Gill, Kathy wrote:
> > addressing aren't for programmers, it's for basic usage skills--and
> > that's were most users hit the proverbial wall. they just don't
> > differentiate between programming and using a computer--it's all one
> > big
> > inaccessible mass to them.
> >
> *THEY* being colleges & management?
Righto.
> > Maybe it's time for some remedial programs that focus on the basics,
> > like double-clicking on an install icon, and teaching people the
> > difference between using a computer and being a mechanic. :P
> >
> It's not "remedial" ... it's basic training. At mega-corps like Boeing,
> until the Web, people were **forbidden** to download/install anything on
> their machines. This was IS edict.
>
> NOW -- just like self-serve gasoline <g> -- they want everyone to have
> computing skills that they've not taught to employees.
I equate it more with food growing skills. The day grocery stores
disappear, 90% of amercians are going to die of starvation (or beating
each other to death in a fight for food) in a week for lack of common
sense survival skills. It's like we've forgotten that under the thin
layer of "social structure" that binds us together lurks the survival of
the fittest.
Knowing how to change your oil is a basic, necessary life skill to me if
I'm going to live in a mechanized society. So is changing a tire,
determining why my car won't start, and how to get it running on a dark
highway in a bad neighborhood at night.
Likewise, if we're going to live in a society based upon, and eventually
in many ways driven by, computers, knowing about them, what they do and
where they are, and how to get at them and fix them, is going to take on
increasing importance--it's part of being the fittest. Installing
software is simple--not just for us, it's just plain simple if one sits
down for five minutes and learns it, and then tries it about 5 times to
find where things go wrong and take the time to get the hang of it.
This isn't a "don't have time" or "don't understand computers" issue,
it's a laziness/motivation/irrational fears issue.
Installing RAM I'll cut some slack on, since it involves taking the
cover off the box. :) I'll even cut slack on editing the registry
(though, if you intend to spend a lifetime using MS products, that's a
pretty important survival skill too).
If people can work a microwave, and remember not to put tin foil in it,
I think the brainpower is there to install software. It's just creating
a need for them to do it.
Anyway, I guess I see this differently than most. if it helps, I'm this
mean to my mother too--I insist on her reading the manuals, and
constantly explain when she calls for tech support that putting her
business, and hence business life, into a computer and not knowing how
to work it is like giving her money to an accountant without knowing
what an accountant is supposed to do, or what to expect back. Either
way you're asking for trouble.
>
> MOST people don't want to know how to change their oil ... those of us
> who are wrenches are a minority [of course, an elite one <g>] ... but
> it's the same with computers.
True, but no excuse :)
> The OS has to get simpler. Look at VCRs ... they are truly a consumer
> item and still have lousy interfaces.
Well, the interface needs to get simpler. Not sure the OS can really
get simpler--I think it's going to be inherent that the easier the
interface gets, the more complex the OS will get.
> BTW, Brett, you have WAY too much time on your hands. ;-)
> You haven't posted this regularly in eons!!! Good to have you a regular
> again.
Well, first, I gave the big site pitch today, and was ready in advance.
:) Then the US went and started bombing people, and when your boss is
an ex-senator and the staff all used to work at the white house,
anything scheduled for the afternoon gets moved back while they all
watch CNN. Since I watch CNN over the net, I can do two things at
once ;)
That, and I've just been awfully opinionated on issues that have come up
of late ;)
B
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