> In a message of 01-Nov-99 Sealey, M. wrote:
>
> > > Yes, but very often not necessary if you know what you are doing.
>
> > And it seems like Martin ****OBVIOUSLY**** doesn't, or he would
> > have rebooted long ago. I hate this stupid 'its not windows'
> > attitude. Even Unix servers need rebooting sometimes. Even
> > Amigas need rebooting (hmm.. say if you needed to install
> > a patch before SetPatch - how do you do *THAT* without rebooting?)
>
> I am very often surprised at the way people act like novices.
Oh wow, someone actually agrees with me about this! On every
mailing list I'm on, I've been complaining that people ask the
stupidest questions and have no will of their own to go and find
information themselves, or read the fecking manual!
They always tell me I'm being negative and that not everybody
knows as much about computers. Bullshit is all I can say ;)
> The Amiga is not exactly a new computer, and most Amiga
> users have had their Amiga for more or at least close to
> a decade. I have had mine since 1988. Why do they act
> like they know nothing about the computer? [snip]
Because some people really are idiots (not you Martin).
There *are* people about who use the Amiga because it's
the only computer around that is easy enough for them
to get to grips with.
But then if Martin *is* one of those people, betatesting
applications is *NOT* something he should be doing.
I betatest applications for a living - it's part of my
job description to test and evaluate future products for
use in the University (Windows 2000, new hardware, blah),
Therefore I feel I'm well suited to this kind of thing.
> I could understand such questions if they had been using an
> Amiga for a few months, but most of them have probably used
> their Amiga for years. Why do they keep acting like novices?
Part of it, IMO, is that almost suicidal notion that Amiga
owners are superior to all other computer owners just because
they don't use Windows.
That attitude unfortunatley spreads to include 'I'm better
than all Amiga owners as well' which means they have an
unerring habit of dumbing down things for no apparent
reason.
Veering off-topic, take the announcements for the BoXeR for
example. They're hideously dumbed down, trying to justify
a three year wait for the product with non-technical
arguments. Well, suffice to say nobody beleives it (unless
they know the real reasons).
phase5's recent G4 announcement, however, is a little more
promising. Rather than relying on vague explainations and
marketting spin, they went for the fully-technical throat,
and confused a load of potential owners - in a good way.
It is my opinion that explainations should start from
technical and work their way down to laymans terms when
people say they don't understand.
Assuming they're dumb is NOT the way to go. Assuming that
everybody else is dumber than you is NOT the way to go.
Assuming that everyone is as technically competant, and
calling them dumb (not literally) when they prove they
aren't (something I do daily, and obviously Chris Wiles
does with zeal ;) is a good way to go, IMO.
> Well, this is my opinion - flame me if you like.
Well I agree wholeheartedly ;)
If there's one thing to be said about the Unix world,
it's hardly full of complete idiots. Maybe in temperament
(slashdot springs to mind ;) but not in technical
competance.
It's such a pity that the Amiga 'community' (I use that
as a scathing, offensive term in this context ;) is like
it is.
Ah well. We'll have a reason to be naive soon, when
QNX Neutrino pops up on the PPC cards, and we all have to
get used to yet-another-OS-change ;)
--
Matt Sealey [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Distributed Systems Support
Computer Centre
University of Leicester
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