On 9 April 2012 12:22, Barry Drake <[email protected]> wrote: > > The thing is, I've trained myself to think like a non-geek who is familiar > with Microsoft Windows, and is now using Ubuntu. Thinking in that way rules > out words like 'panel', 'dash', 'launcher' and many many more as well as > program names such as nautilus. If my friend Heidi phones, I'm not going to > say 'Open the dash ... ' but rather, left click on the top icon on the > column on the left of your screen, then left click the icon at the bottom > that looks a bit like a ruler and two candles' (what on earth the apps icon > is supposed to be is quite beyond me .... ). And by the way, isn't a > 'window' something for looking out of? Get the drift? If we keep checking > ourselves, we'll be amazed how much geek-speak we use.
The thing is, "icon" and "left click" and so on are computer language too. But a century ago our ancestors were doubtless assimilating and inventing new language concerning automobiles. Language changes. If you want to talk about software and things, you need some specialist vocabulary. You can "bootstrap" ;¬) this from familiar terms from Windows, but they need /some/. The trick is to try to encourage people not to be phobic about this, I guess. It's tricky. I find it a real problem when people learn the words but then apply them incorrectly. -- Liam Proven • Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile Email: [email protected] • GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven MSN: [email protected] • Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 • Cell: +44 7939-087884 -- [email protected] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
