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Geek Eye for the Average Guy
Yxes writes "Fortune designed an experiment: give three geeks US$15,000 and three days to bring a family of four up to date with technology. The average family doesn't know which DVD player to buy or how to setup a wireless network. What happens when even the geeks can't get it to work?"
3 days?! What a blatant anti-Gentoo bias!
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
- Get them down to one remote - Nice receiver, learning remote - properly programmed, buttons all labeled
- DVR - TiVo or Replay TV, its a must have. Enable the 30 second skip button on the TiVo remote.
- Adjust the TV properly - turn the sharpness the whole way down, go through all the test patterns and balance the colors.
For the computer:- Open source software - Install software from the Open CD, Linux if they are up for it..
- Decruft the mouse and keyboard (although even most geeks could use this)
- A decent home network, add more computers as needed.
- A nice office chair and good ergonomics - switch them over to the dvorak keybord and make them practice.
For the kitchen:- Print out list of all pizza delivery options
- Stock fridge with Mt. Dew and Guinness.
Personal grooming:I enjoyed your article immensely, especially when the Geek starts calling everyone 'bitch'. However, I can't quite get the gist of it.
Please repeat your experiment of 4 guys installing 15,000 dollars of equipment at my house, so that I may understand *exactly* the trials of learning to use technology.
Many Thanks,
Teamhasnoi
It should be the other way around. A group of average people can tell a geek how to shower. They can teach him that long greasy hair in a ponytail is not a fashion statement. They could even take him shopping to buy clothes that aren't just t-shirts with nerdy slogans or anime characters on them.
"Ok, the first thing you need on your PC is Linux. And forget a GUI, you need to do everything in text. Windowed interfaces are so not cool. Once you're set up with this, we'll go to the de-tanning booth to get your skin a nice white pasty color..."
"But why is my homepage www.slashdot.org? What is this site? What's it good for? Are there games? Oh wait, I see the games section!"
...the last few paragraphs of the forthcoming Fortune article are dedicated to the team of geeks sitting around a monitor on the other side of town, packet-sniffing the new network for leaks and shreeking at what horrible things the new users are doing to the whole system.
--
The $15K money would be a nice change, but I'm always spending my free time setting up WiFi home networks, etc.
The same problem would exist for both the "Geek Eye" and it's original "Queer Eye"... given a few months without supervision and the recipient will revert back into low-tech chaos. Maintenance is much harder than configuration.
Murray Todd Williams
No wonder the project failed. Where was the Requirements Document? The simple statement: "bring a family of four up to date with technology" is not a proper requirement. Did they want to make home movies? Send email to Grandma? Walk in the house and have the lights turn on automatically? What were they trying to do with that $15k?
If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
Does the $15,000 include the $699 for SCO?
Trolling is a art,
From the article, "really, all they wanted to do was send digital pictures of the kids to Grandma. Heistad came back with a shopping list that would get them that, plus a home theater, a wireless network, new computing, a tricked-out music system, and GPS positioning capabilities."
Pathetic. How about a 6 month followup (honestly reported)? After all, what are the odds that most of this equipment will just be gathering dust by then?
Alright, probably not the Tivo... but still...
You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
What happens when even the geeks can't get it work?
Blame it on Windows : it always works with budget overruns as well as questions about technical problems. Tell the family you told them about Linux but they wouldn't hear. Make sure you use a patronizing tone.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
1. Install cardboard box with "Really Neat Box!" written on it.
2. Pocket $15,000.
3. ???
4. Profit!
(I think ??? involves running away very fast, but doesn't it always?)
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
The main problems here are compatability and demand. First, demand... The people don't need it. So, they won't use it. That's easy. The people in this article were all wrong for this stuff. They will NEVER use 20% of it.
Second, compatability. We all know and it is obvious to most people that this stuff all becomes 10 times cooler when it works with other stuff. When I buy a new X, it would be totally awesome if it will integrate with my Q, R, S, and V. Well, open standards certainly won't make much money for the manufacturers, so they don't work very well together. Heck, even all my Sony stuff has problems playing nice together. And especially the really cool features will never integrate.
Last, but not least, they kids are gonna ruin it all anyway. So to hell with it. Read a book. Take the $15,000 and put it in the kids' college funds.
"If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid." - Epictetus
Now that being geeky is seen a cool trait, marketers are now buslily redefining the label to describe people that spend lots of money on high-fashion electronics.
Why are we letting this happen? Which is more impressive: owning a lot of expensive hardware, or turning outdated junk into useful tools?
--
Long-term effects of Bush deficits
The idea as a whole is intriguing, but with posers instead of real geeks, it's pretty pointless.
It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
[Geek] Okay, now you're running Linux! Your computer will run faster and be more stable. Also it's politically and morally superior, and the software is all free!
[AverageGuy] Awesome, thanks! So what games are on here?
[Geek] I have to go now.
In all matters of opinion, our adversaries are insane. -Oscar Wilde
Most Geeks dont know what DVD player to buy.
Pioneer Elete series? Or do we go for the Carver Studio series? or do we go for even better? or are we happy with the sub $400.00 junk at best buy?
Most of the decisions are made based on preference as is you went for the "best" based on research and actual reviews $15,000.00 is not anywhere near enough money.
I can spend $15,000.00 on the PC,home netowrking and home server alone.
for the average Joe, the best DVD player to buy is the $59.00 APEX cheapie.. they will be happy with the picture on their 29 inch tv. and it's the one I reccomend to all my relatives as it's dirt cheap / throw away type appliance if the kids break it. plus it does a better job than the playstation2 or Xbox.
unless you have a HD tv or projector that can handle the progressive output buying a "good" player is a waste of money.. and most "geeks" wont admit that buying the cheapest is the best for the average joe.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
"Day Two The now fully assembled geek team pulls up to the Burkes' house at 9 a.m. " No real geek, given $15K to play with for 3 days, is going home/hotel to sleep!! Who are they trying to kid??? -k
Your mind moves quicker than a nun's first curry. - A. Rimmer
You read the end of the article as
/.
They pause. Ross fingers his goatse...
instead of
They pause. Ross fingers his goatee...
Damn you
Heistad grilled them on their tech needs--really, all they wanted to do was send digital pictures of the kids to Grandma. Heistad came back with a shopping list that would get them that, plus a home theater, a wireless network, new computing, a tricked-out music system, and GPS positioning capabilities.
Not only did the family not want the technology but had what they didn't want "forced" on them. This is the problem with mass consumerism of entertainment technology. You don't need it. It isn't even cool if you think about it.
- Crappy pop music doesn't sound any better on outrageously huge speakers and expensive audio system.
- The TV show "Friends" certainly isn't any funnier on a 90" plasma HDTV.
- GPS is only helpful if you don't know where you and you know where you want to go. Besides, who needs to know the lat/lon of the dry cleaners?
- Computer and console games like Grand Theft Auto X, Everquest, Star Wars Galaxies, and Sims still suck and disconnect you from society whether on a slow computer or fast one.
The parents should do their kids a favor and sell all that crap. Keep a decent notebook and digital camera around for the pictures to grandma and email. Buy the kids some books, take them to the parks, get them involved in their community.All of that useless tech is going to kill your culture.
Speak truth to power.
I've got my TiVo, VCR, & TV on a UPS. That solves the flashing 12:00 problem most of the time.
--Be human.
"You call this a wireless mouse? More like a wireless HOUSE!"
"Hmm. I like what you've done with this cabling - it's very Feng-Schwing!"
"I hope you're going for a grainy, 'Kiss me Deadly' sort of thing with this greyscale monitor!"
"Nice X-Box! Can we move in? And the controllers...I haven't seen anything that big since we did Kevin Mitnik..ss house... ahem.."
Throw money at the problem.
Don't think long term. Remain fixated on the short-term.
I've taught basic Internet and computer skills classes to a wide variety of people, all over the US. In doing so I've found that the only way to really make something stick is to actually sit them in front of the computer and have them learn by doing. The "three geeks and $15k" method is like a Microsoft Windows wizard. It may help you with the problem at hand, but it's not revealing anything about the hows and whys behind the problem.
In short, the end user isn't learning. They're still beholden to the geeks, because as soon as the carefully orchestrated setup hits a snafu, Abbie Normal won't know how to fix that problem.
Immersive, hands-on teaching works. It takes time and patience. Unfortunately neither are in ample supply these days, so everyone keeps on looking for silver bullet "solutions". This attitude is everywhere, even in large corporations, where managers want the latest shiny packaged product, because they actually believe that they can get results without having to learn anything first.
The computer industry is a victim of its own hype. Or rather, society is a victim of the industry hype. If we actually acknowledged the value of learning, we might collectively be able to harness the power of computers instead of spending huge chunks of time dealing with trivial annoyances.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
Ahh...and the remotes. This is the kind of stuff that has ALWAYS needed a lot of work. Check out this Cooper article on an elegant solution.
MONSTER DATA CENTER!
I had a sucky sig.
HA! You think a group of geeks would only buy a camera and maybe a new PC? HA! GPS is definitely needed to send photos to grandma.
GPS: Know your exact location in your own home!
Without GPS:
Wife: "Kids, dinnertime!"
(no answer)
Husband: "Maybe they're in the toy room, dear!"
With GPS:
Wife: "Kids, dinnertime!"
(no answer)
Husband: "Kids are at 33 56' 52" N, 118 8' 5" W, dear!"
These turds blew $15,000 on gizmos and gadgets for a family that only wanted to send pix of the kids to Granny? Talk about scope creep....
If that happens, they send someone out to buy them a preposition.
No, the cheapest is not best for the average joe.
The best for the average joe is the most reliable, and the best bang for the buck.
Did they need progressive scan? Well, if you're going to blow $4k on a TV, get the people the equipment to carry the best signal and hook em up with a nice sound system as well.
When someone who doesn't know anything about DVD asks me what to buy, I tell em Sony. Sony's aren't the cheapest, but they make a nice $100 or so model and those stand up over time.
I had a Toshiba that burnt out in a year. I know three different people who bought those $69 Apex pieces of shit and the best one lasted six months.
You get what you pay for, and suggesting Apex to your friends or family will just make sure they don't ask you for your advice ever again...
They did buy a Powerbook and Airport base station - which they designated for use in reading email!! Then they bought a $699 Best Buy PC to handle the tasks of camera mounting and digital video editing. Madness!!
/. - where is the post from them outlining more detail?
They should have gone one way or the other (I'd have gone Mac myself), but introducing a mixed system to non-tech people is not a good plan. They basically demonstrated no degree of ability to interconnect systems, where all the REALLY cool features you could have nowadays come from.
The interesting thing to me is that these guys, being geeks, must read
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
"The PC sports a 2.08GHz XP processor"
XP processor, what's that? Is that what I use to run Windows 97 for my Outlook Explorer?
I'm going to suggest "mug". It seems to have gone unused since the 40's--"Hey, you mug!"--so we might as well dust it off. Plus, it suggests "Muggles".
One man's -1 Flamebait is another man's +5 Funny.
As a geek who has set up AV and computer systems for 'average' family members, I've found that getting the thing working is by far the easy part.
It's when you say goodbye and leave the house that the problems start happining. Computer drivers become muddled. Wifi networks magically stop connecting. Stereo settings become off.
And you end up dreding answering your phone because you're going to have to do tech support.
To the average person, keeping a hi tech setup in good working order is difficult. (My stereo doesn't work. After hours of troubleshooting over the phone, you discover it's because they hit the 'a' speaker button while cleaning the recevier).
Keeping a computer system in top condition is even harder. "Of course I clicked on that attachment. It said it was from microsoft and it would clean the virus out of my computer".
The Internet is generally stupid