On Thu, 30 Nov 2000, enterfornone wrote:
> On Thu, Nov 30, 2000 at 12:34:07PM +1100, Dan Treacy wrote:
> >
> > Where's Word??? :-) Or even Notepad???
>
> Foot, applications, gnotepad - foot, applications, abiword
>
> ok it's probably not all that obvious if you've never used a computer,
> but finding the same on windows or macos would be just as difficult
The geek-divide is bigger than the Grand Canyon!
Have you ever asked a Windows luser to create a 'plain text file'?
It usually causes brain damage. When I mention 'notepad' all I
get back is a blank expression. Nah, this thread has barely touched
the depths of computer illiteracy out there. And Windows supposed
ease of use goes nowhere near addressing the situation.
Heck, the other day I had to intercept and decode a .DAT file attached
to a job application reply a friend of mine received via email.
She had no idea what to do with it. Of course it was easy to
pull it apart in Linux ... not because of Linux, but because
I've been programming these beasts for 20+ years. My hapless friend
would have no hope in hell in getting anywhere near the data
contained in her .DAT file.
Sadly, all that 99% of computer users 'out there' are capable of
doing is double-click and fill in the blanks. That's it. That
is not computer literacy. If you cannot think outside the square,
solve little problems like the .DAT file, then you are illiterate.
I cannot get over the mass impression that people are somehow
born with built-in knowledge of using a WIMP interface like
Window or Mac. Nothing could be farther from the truth. This impression
has arisen simply from over-exposure to that one medium. Put
a boy raised in the jungle in front of a PC as see what happens.
(He'll probably do the right thing and use it as a footstool
or a projectile!)
Anyone can be trained to use WIMP. Anybody can be taught to
use a shell. Anyone can type in a command. They just have to be
taught.
Which brings to mind another thread ... intellectual laziness...
but we'll leave that for another day, oh faithful sluggers.
-rickw
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Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services
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