> Date: Sun, 30 May 1999 10:45:24 +0000
> From: Boanne Lorraine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: Re: DOS GUI
Hi Boanne -
> On "languages": Think about it, almost everything has it's
> own specialized language, and if you want to learn it, you
> gotta' learn the lingo. Medicine has it's specalized language,
> so does law, and music, and chemistry, and crochet, and
> even religion. Much of learning these things is learning the
> language of these things. Why would it be any different with
> computers (OS's)?
I can claim true "expertise" in only one thing: an airborn radar/weapons
system that is almost completely retired from the world's inventory.
It had it's own complete vocabulary, chock-full of acronyms.
The pilots who used it most effectively knew SOME of it, but not one ever
mastered the complete "theory of operation". As "users", it wasn't re-
quired.
> I have a sneaking suspicion that Apple is somehow responsible
> for all this - it couldn't be IBM after all! <grin>
I would place THE BIG CHANGE squarely in line with the introduction of the
Mac. Until that time, some knowledge of how computers really operate was
an absolute necessity to do the "good stuff" effectively. Just as with
electronics, I maintain that it takes a particular set of mental pathways
to properly understand how a computer does what it does. There were ( and
ARE ) plenty of otherwise-intelligent or "educated" people who just will
never "get it" when it comes to computers...the Mac came along and gave them
the opportunity to produce the same high-quality sort of things that
previously required a computer "guru"...no muss, no fuss...just point and
click. Windoze is much the same; it DOES provide the average Joe the
ability to do things with a computer that would be impossible for him without
a REALLY long "learning curve"...one which he may not have the ability to
complete.
Naturally, there were limitations. ( It would be years before any simple
programming language was available for a Mac - and that kept people squarely
inside the realm of purchased software applications for a long time.)
So, IMO, this all leads back to what I believe should be the main objective
in using computers at all: it should do the things YOU need it to do, no
more, no less. ( No unpleasant surprises, either !) If all you require is
a screen full of icons to click upon, so be it: that is right for you.
( I just hope such a person can live with ignoring the inevitable cryptic
error messages they will see !)
For me, anyway, getting a computer to do what *I* want ( rather than what
some overpaid programmer finds easy to implement ) requires quite a bit of
understanding of the underlying principles. And it gets harder every day,
getting around the obstacles that are purposely placed in our way...
- John T.
-- Arachne V1.5a;alpha, NON-COMMERCIAL copy, http://home.arachne.cz/
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