Natalie,
think cars.
do you believe that having made driving easier, ie more user friendly
(with synchro-mesh'd clutches and automated everything), drivers have
become more competent, ie safer drivers?
computing is very similar, IMO. yes, 'pure' users (ie someone
employed to use one or two applications as part of their job) should
not need to know anything outside their job-spec; but most users are
both the user AND the administrator for their system, and de-skilling
them even further is not going to help anyone. we need better
education, better s/ware documentation, and better adherence ot
standards (see John Carlyle-Clarke 1427h) by all means, but glitzy,
automated GUIs which hide all of the nitty-gritty ("..only
developers/tinkerers should. Make everything available via the GUI..")
are, in the long run, counter-productive.
--
regards, jr.
time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.
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