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The Impact of Technophobes
fsharp writes "Most of us have experience with average folks requesting technical support. I have friends and family members that would be lost without my support. I opt for a sliding scale payment plan, usually dinner. At any rate, The New York Times has a nice piece on the impact of technophobes on the Internet (vis-a-vis MyDoom and other email-borne viruses) and their technologically adept friends and family."
. . . the biggest problem is the just-plain-dumbasses.
The bigotry of the nonbeliever is for me nearly as funny as the bigotry of the believer. - Albert Einstein
I'm glad that so many people don't understand what I do. That makes me more valuable.
I'm coin operated baby!
[ Don't reply to this ]
i wear one of the thinkgeek "no i will not fix your computer" shirts
I've experienced the same frustration plenty of times myself, having ushered several family members and friends on to the internet, only to be confronted by the same ridiculous ( HOW COULD YOU DO THAT?!?!?! ) behaviors.
:)
The fact of the matter is, most people treat computers like a glorified appliance. A computer should more aptly be treated like a motor vehicle; yeah, you can go have some fun in it but you'd better drive defensively and know how to operate the thing properly. You don't just take it out of the box and start pressing buttons
Can we really blame the users though? After having dealt with plenty of computer illiterates in my day, I've come to realize that advertising and computer companies are at least as responsible as the users themselves. Inasmuch as they may be advertised to be so, a computer is not "plug and play". It requires maintenance and careful attention! Computer companies have put the average consumer into a "PRES BUTAN TO INTERNET!!!" mindset, and it's a bit hard to get them out of it.
Frankly, though, I can't say that it bothers me too much. Computer illiterates are my best source of favors. You need all that spyware removed and windows reinstalled? Yeah, well I need some vodka. Of course the fact that they do a nice job of filling my inbox with crap (both viruses themselves, and spam from hijacked machines) certainly gets on my nerves, but I've got my fingers crossed waiting for the next breed of mail protocol which should solve these problems altogether.
Sometimes things just work out
Sounds like you're on the other end of the technoadept/technophobe spectrum than you think.
When people ask me what I do know. I am a janitor. If they push, I am a high tech janitor.
The moment a prase like "I work computers" comes out of your mouth. Or "I work on Cisco stuff" you get a nice carpet bombing of questions and requests for help.
Just lie, it is not worth the fight. Fun/Pain ratio is way out of wack on this one.
Neck_of_the_Woods
#/usr/local/surf/glassy/overhead
My parents asked me yesterday how to rewind a dvd. I laughed... and then realized they weren't jokin. Then i was sad.
----------
Battlewang Where the large win big
From the article...
Miriam Tauber, 24, makes no apologies for her lack of computer knowledge. To her, computers are like "moody people" who behave illogically.
Uh oh. Computers, by definition, are cold and logical. They don't have personalities. They don't have moods.
If users think computers do have mood swings just like the typical female human, we've got serious user education problems. They clearly don't know the basics of what a computer does, and that makes it much harder to explain how to properly operate a computer.
Of course, you're better off simply throwing them at something other than the Internet...
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
That is what the computer industry is about, makeing computers accessable to the end users. If we do not help them, then we are self defetting.
It is our jobs to make it easy to use. Be it as a programmer, a sysadm, or a help desk person. The end goal is to get the end user to use the product.
It is more worth my time and money to spend $399 on the cheapo Dell PC for my dad and just have him call tech support when he needs help. Dad's not technical and my patience has worn thin for technical support of "click, double click," etc.
"So, Dad, what did Dell say when you called them? "
"I didn't call em yet"
"Okay, well, ya know we paid for that with the computer. Let's get our money's worth..."
Seems to be the best deal going for me.
-- There is no sig line, only Zuul.
Actually, its the ones who think that they know what's wrong who are the most difficult to help. They tell you all the information that led them to their conclusion, ignoring the one fact right in front of their nose which would contradict it...
- "History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of men" -- Blue Oyster Cult, 'Godzilla'
I've found Mac zealot's better-than-thou attitude self-selects against having friends, which solves the problem on its own.
The biggest problem is the Technolazy, people who have seen to much Star Trek, or who have been so brainwashed by the 'ctrl-alt-del' mentality, that they assume things are easy when they aren't. Driving a car, operating a VCR, or designing a website are all DIFFICULT tasks, which require attention to detail, and have strict guidelines to avoid failure.
None of this matters to the Technolazy, who stomp their feet when the "computer doesn't want to print" or when it goes "beep beep" and totally eats their very good paper. Technolazies also refuse to admit that paying for real hardware, quality software, and educated tech support is necessary - they all know someone who "kows computers". Resoning typically doesn't work, since "they heard" something from someone, and so therefore they know more than you about T1 lines, printer drivers, SCSI drives or database software.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
that particular sentence is particularly annoying. if you go to china, YOU learn chinese or hire a translator. otherwise you don't go to china.
if she want to use a computer, she will have to learn how to deal with them. i work for an isp, when i receive a virus infected email, i cut off their internet access plain and simple. they can call back to have it reactivated after they get someone competent to disinfect it.
the burnout for those on the other end of the phone when you call tech support is like 8 or 9 months... talk about a hard demanding job.
Evolution or ID?
Geeks Put the Unsavvy on Alert: Learn or Log Off
By AMY HARMON
hen Scott Granneman, a technology instructor, heard that one of his former students had clicked on a strange e-mail attachment and infected her computer with the MyDoom Internet virus last week, empathy did not figure anywhere in his immediate response.
"You actually got infected by the virus?" he wrote in an e-mail message to the former student, Robin Woltman, a university grant administrator. "You, Robin? For shame!"
As MyDoom, the fastest-spreading virus ever, continues to clog e-mail in-boxes and disrupt business, the computer-savvy are becoming openly hostile toward the not-so-savvy who unwittingly play into the hands of virus writers.
The tension over the MyDoom virus underscores a growing friction between technophiles and what they see as a breed of technophobes who want to enjoy the benefits of digital technology without making the effort to use it responsibly.
The virus spreads when Internet users ignore a basic rule of Internet life: never click on an unknown e-mail attachment. Once someone does, MyDoom begins to send itself to the names in that person's e-mail address book. If no one opened the attachment, the virus's destructive power would never be unleashed.
"It takes affirmative action on the part of the clueless user to become infected," wrote Scott Bowling, president of the World Wide Web Artists Consortium, expressing frustration on the group's discussion forum. "How to beat this into these people's heads?"
Many of the million or so people who have so far infected their computers with MyDoom say it is not their fault. The virus often comes in a message that appears to be from someone they know, with an innocuous subject line like "test" or "error." It is human nature, they say, to open the mail and attachments.
But computer sophisticates say it reflects a willful ignorance of basic computer skills that goes well beyond virus etiquette. At a time when more than two-thirds of American adults use the Internet, they say, such carelessness is no longer excusable, particularly when it messes things up for everyone else.
For years, many self-described computer geeks seemed eager to usher outsiders onto their electronic frontier. Everyone, it seemed, had a friend or family member in the geek elite who could be summoned ? often frequently ? in times of computer crisis.
But as those same friends and family members are called upon again and again to save the computer incompetents from themselves, the geeks' patience is growing thin. As it does, a new kind of digital divide is opening up between populations of computer users who must coexist in the same digital world.
"Viruses are just the tip of the iceberg," said Bill Melcher, who runs his own technical support business in San Francisco. "When it comes to computers, a lot of intelligent people and fast learners just decide that they don't know."
Many of the computationally confused say they suffer from genuine intimidation and even panic over how to handle the mysterious machines they have come to rely on for so much of daily life. Virus writers, spammers and scammers, they say, are the ones who should be held accountable for the chaos they cause.
But as the same people equip themselves with fancy computers and take advantage of the Internet for things like shopping and banking, critics say that their perpetual state of confusion has begun to get tiresome. And while the Internet's traditional villains remain elusive, those inadvertently helping them tend to be friends and neighbors.
Some in the technocamp imagine requiring a license to operate a computer, just like the one required to drive a car. Others are calling for a punishment that fits a careless crime. People who click on virus attachments, for instance, could be cut off by their Internet service providers until they proved that their machines had been disinfected.
And some, tired of being treated like free help lines, are
Just because I don't care, it doesn't mean I don't understand. Homer J. Simpson
Geeks Put the Unsavvy on Alert: Learn or Log Off
this is a shocking misnomer. people who are technophobes write letters with fountain pens. the people this article is referring to are 'techno-dumbasses'.
Go read some bible: nubible.com
Since I can't help over the phone without an identical system to examine, I require they buy me identical hardware and software. This has been so successful that I'm prepared to expand my offer to the general public. I'm available for server and network support, as well, on a unit-for-unit basis. You've got 50 servers? Buy me 50 of the same and we're good to go.
And in his case he's got a Ph.D so he's already got a good amount of elitism going for him.
Your solution is to only support the minority because minority operating systems don't get viruses? Let's pretend Macintosh became 90% of the desktop market and Windows became 10%, just like that. Now all the people who write viruses have switched platforms. Now Macs DO have the virus/worm issues that Windows currently has in the real world, which is the first and I'm assuming the primary reason you stated for not supporting Windows users when it comes to tech support. I wonder how much your opinion of the respective operating systems would change in this hypothetical situation.
You're right, I wouldn't steal a car. But if it were possible, I sure as hell would download one!
is that even though I barely know enough to get by a lot of the time, and really all I do is make webpages which of course anyone HERE would know doesn't have anything to do with actually operating a computer, anyone who doesn't understand the technology or can't find the power button assumes I'm some kind of 7337 hacker than can solve all their problems or tell what brand of computer they have when they say "it's one of the beige ones with a CD-ROM."
And I can't help them, I couldn't if I wanted to, and so I end up looking like a jerk to my family because I "won't" help them fix their computer and they think I'm lying about it just because I spend half my time on the internet writing plain old HTML. Now that's annoying.
My Webcomic: Asylum on 5th Street
From the point of view of a non-educated user, they think clicking on the "click here to be removed from this list" link in an e-mail is what to do to in order to get less spam. They think running the patch that comes in via e-mail will protect their system. They think the deposed Nigerian leader who e-mails them really needs their help and will pay them millions...
The common bond? What you see in e-mail, particularly an e-mail from somebody you've never heard of before, cannot be taken at face value. Just because it's in an e-mail doesn't make it true.
Maybe the safest thing to do would be to set up clueless users with a whitelist-based e-mail client... if a sender is not already in the address book the message won't be displayed, with maybe a "Knock-knock, do you know this person?" box for unrecognized senders. That'd at least cut down on the number of scams...
First off, does anyone else find it highly disturbing that a PhD is not only posting on Slashdot, but FIRST posting? I think the apocalypse is near.
Also, my only solution to the "family tech support" problem has been to either ignore the question (if it was via email or voice mail this is easy to do) or act surly when I answer it. Eventually, the family decides it's easier to just try and figure out the problem themselves, or ask someone else, then it is to deal with the hassle of having me fix it.
If your family wants you to be tech support, be BAD tech support, and eventually they'll stop asking.
I charge my family and friends a standard callout fee of 1 cookie, and then 1 cookie per hour onwards up to 4 hours where a sandwhich is then required. A beer is required on the 8th hour, as is another sandwhich.
It works very well.
I opt for a sliding scale payment plan, usually dinner
Thats very modest of you. I also know a family that I'm usually generous with. I opt for dinner when I tell them to flick the power switch to ON.
The other rates are:
Dinner + Lunch: When I tell them its a blackout and you cannot switch it ON yet
Ride to Work for a week: When I have to tell them that their Admin password is blank
Pay monthly rent: When I have to tell them that the CD drive is not for hot coffee cup holder
Adopt me: When I have to tell them that 'Any' key really means what it means
I am working on getting into the Will soon!
Free XBox, PS2
I thought of this sticker immediately when i rtfa.
Can we really blame the users though?
Yes. Yes, we can.
I often use the analogy of the car when describing tech tasks: no one expects to buy a car and have it run forever (and remain safe) without maintenance. Most people understand the need to check tires (treadwear, air pressure), get the oil changed, etc. Draw parallels to these items for technically-challenged folks and they seem to understand. YMMV.
No one should purchase potentially problematic machines (computers, blenders, cars, etc.) without understanding in a general sense how these things work. I would like to think that would be common sense, but common sense is often neither common nor sense. Discuss.
I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
...the average computer user isn't going to start becoming computer-savy anytime soon. Even this generation of children are woefully ignorant for the most part. Look at the VCR -- it's been out for ages, and I know that most people still cannot figure out how to program it to record at a certain time or program the clock.
At some point in time, software developers are going to have to come to grips with the fact that their target market isn't going to smarten up, and start building dumber and dumber applications.
The solution to email-bourne viruses isn't to tell people "don't click on attachments." If we want to prevent this, we need to change email programs so that attachments can't do what they are capable of currently. It isn't going to work any other way.
"The market alone cannot provide sufficient constraints on corporation's penchant to cause harm." -- Joel Bakan
I made my father get a pencil, tap it on the phone so I knew he had it, write my instructions down and READ THEM BACK to me when I was done dictating. This was the only way I could be sure he was going to listen to me after I told him the SAME THING 3 times. I snapped on the 4th...
Come and see the violence inherent in the system!
Macs don't have the virus or worm issues that Windows has, Macs work when you plug peripheral hardware into them
If Macs work so well, why the hell are you doing support for your friends?
In fact, I love that my weed dealer is techno-stupid. I average about an ounce a month from him for consulting fees :-). The fact of the matter is, he really isn't that stupid. It's not like he's calling me to install office, more like "Dude, can you help me with my fstab stuff, I can't write to my fat32 drive except as root". Nothing difficult, but not really intuitive. In reality, he is just too lazy to search Google groups. I say let'em be stupid, they pay my bills and buy my weed.
ymmv
Technoclowns need nothing more than a "glorified appliance" and they should be able to treat them as such. My mother should never have a need to "recompile a kernal" or anything like that. All she needs to do is "Turn the picture thing on" and maybe click the email icon.
If there is email in her box it should be:
1)her email
2)the system should be smart (or dumb) enough not to provide her with something that is going to infect itself.
Expand these 2 rules to any other application that her appliance should do.
Example - Looking up movie times. Application should:
1)Show movie times
2)the system should be smart (or dumb) enough not to provide her with something that is going to infect itself.
The problem is forcing mega machines on people that only need an information appliance (or maybe allowing those people to buy them)
Post: Sigged, for your pleasure.
Interestingly, this entire discussion stems from the limitations of semi-literate (read: average computer users) that many of us forget about when we discuss the latest trends and technologies. My concern is that the gap between the computer literate and the semi-literate could possibly be greater now than it was in the mid 1980s, when computers were quirky and used mostly by hobbyists and very specific business-related activities, and few people owned them for home use in the public at large.
The frustration seems to stem from not just the myriad of viruses, but also the necessity of weekly anti-virus updates, spyware, and the absolutely requirement for some type of firwall on Windows-based computers. I dare say that the level of technical knowledge to maintain a computer today is higher than it was twenty years ago. People seem to gloss over ideas like this but having been involved with computers for more than twenty years, I think it's important to reflect on this once and a while. Regards, Goalive - who was given 'bad karma' on Slashdot because not everyone shares his sense of humor :-/
When people ask me what I do know. I am a janitor.... The moment a prase like "I work computers" comes out of your mouth. Or "I work on Cisco stuff" you get a nice carpet bombing of questions and requests for help.
Here's a thought: consider the possibility of spending $30 on business cards. When this feared carpet bombing of questions comes, hand out business cards & tell them to call you during office hours. If/when the phone rings, start the "billable hours" clock and get a lease on a Porsche.
At least, that's the way it worked when *I* was getting started.... What? It's not the mid-90's?? Oh, never mind... maybe you really should be a janitor; you'll have better job security.
--Mid
The virus spreads when Internet users ignore a basic rule of Internet life: never click on an unknown e-mail attachment. Once someone does, MyDoom begins to send itself to the
names in that person's e-mail address book.
Ah, a "basic rule of the Internet"... never open unknown email attachments. So why do we rely on the user to understand this rule? Why don't the common beginning-level email programs (read: Outlook) make it very difficult (impossible?) for beginners to open potentially-dangerous attachments from email addresses that aren't in the address book? Seems like there is too much blaming the victim going on here, and not enough protecting them.
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
Look here's the deal. I'm willing to do work for you, many hours of work in some cases. I'll fix what geeksquad, compusa, or whatever other halfass outfit has fucked up for free. But I expect you to sit down with me and learn how to prevent what got hosed. I don't mind teaching, I've mentored a lot of techs over the years, but I do mind if people dont implement what I teach them.
It's a little like having someone's engine freeze because they ran out of oil. You explain to them that they need to get an oil change, you tell them the enormous number of hours involved, and you repair their engine for them. They thank you and you forget about it, until a year later their now rebuilt engine once more seizes because it ran out of oil. There are only so many times you will fix it before telling them to take care of it on their own.
The issue is not the doing, the issue is the redoing when someone now knows better. I think the solution may be a really basic newbie web page somewhere that teaches people very basic lessons. It has to be made so as not to be patronizing, or people will dismiss it and ignore.
If it covered just these 5 things the Internet would be a much better place.
Dont open attachments from anybody that hasn't verbally told you they one.
Get a popup blocker and do not accept any "offer" that you didn't go looking for.
Antivirus software, use it, update it, and run it at least once a week - all of which can be automated.
Get Ad-Aware and use it. Treat it just like you do your antivirus.
Patch your computer! Go to the appropriate OS update site and use it.
People need to take some responsibility for their own computers. As tempting as the idea for a license is, it would become to easy to politicize. Perhaps we should start holding inviduals financially responsible when their system gets hijacked and inflicts damage on other systems?
Me: Now email me that file, the one on your desktop Them: How would it have got onto my deskop, I didn't print it out? True story.
Oh lord God, yes! Friends, relatives, even friends of friends... A couple years ago I simply informed everyone I would now simply refuse to help out with any computer-related problems, at least from clueless people. I realised that most of those easy problems could be solved by reading a book and simply gaining some understanding of the machines and that by fixing their computers for them I was just perpetuating the problem. So I threw some darwinism at them, either they adapt or they give up.
Well unless you work in a hospital or nuclear facility, your lack of computer skills are not going to endanger peoples lives.
I think a driving license, and the ability to operate a computer are two huuuugely different things imho.
Though that is why they have things (in the UK at least) like CLAIT and the ECDL (which coincidentally means European Computer Driving License).
"Hey! Unless this is a nude love-in, get the hell off my property!!"
For instance, I have several family members with computers: if I ask them if they have a firewall or have current virus definitions they look at me like whats that? and So what?
Hell most of them don't even check for Windows patches, much less wonder why there computer is slow as hell, they just think it's time for an upgrade - not to check for spyware, virii, worms, etc.
Some even tell me 'what the problem is' and refuse any explanation, for example Program X doesn't work correctly it needs more memory. Mind you that the individual doesn't know how, what, which memory to buy (or is compatible) or that it might be due to all of the 500 apps open in his taskbar.
Most home computers SHOULD be glorified applainces. The average user doesn't need all of the complexity of the current generation of computers and really shouldn't have to deal with it. It is not the fault of the user that they know so little about systems so easily broken. Not everyone has the time, energy or desire to learn about all of the ways in which Windows can self-immolate.
The problem is that computers are designed by geeks for geeks. They need to be designed by skilled industrial designers for complete morons.
And for us gearheads there should be the option to buy complex and tempramental computers/OSes, just like people can still buy cars with manual transmissions.
The age of "you must be a computer nerd" are over and it's time that software designers recognized that fact.
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
If you actually read the post you'd see that:
- viruses are the not the main reason that the poster only supports Macs
- Windoze PCs are not the only systems he complains about and won't support (he mentioned IRIX for pete's sake!)
The point of the post is that you don't have to dink around for hours to get a Mac to work. Stuff really does just work when you plug it in.Nope. There are zero known viruses for Mac OS X, none, nada, zippity-do-da. There are about 60 viruses for OS 9, as well as a few that macro viruses that infect MS Office (which runs on both Windows and Mac)
-- "At Microsoft, quality is job 1.1" -- PC Magazine, Nov. 1994
I completely agree. Some of the worst viruses do not really even begin to exploit the OS weaknesses of windows. They are activated by the ignorance of users. Anyone could write an executable piece of code for macs that would function the same way these viruses and worms operate. Same for Linux. Really, these users are literally ASKING their computers to run a piece of code and send copies to everyone in their address book. This has less to do with the OS and more to do with the computer simply doing as it is told.
Those that suggest you "dance like no one is watching" really want to see you make a complete fool of yourself.
I think this article points out one of the major weaknesses in the IT profession currently: a lack of people skills and empathy for the end user.
I've been a computer professional for over 25 years now. I'm still aghast at system administrators who take servers down on the last day of the month for maintenance, with total disregard of the fact that the company's biggest transaction volume occurs that day. Or help desk people who answer the phone in an impatient tone of voice, as if it's a major annoyance that someone is disturbing them.
Computing SHOULD be an appliance, it SHOULD be invisible. Sure, it was cool in the early days of the Internet to be among the priesthood and the elite, but that's not where it's at today. The clueless are not at fault here; it's we geeks who are at fault for designing systems for ourselves, instead of for everyone.
To answer another poster's assertion that the Internet is like a car, you can't just drive, you have to have some knowledge, I'd say this: sure, you have to know how to USE the car. But you shouldn't have to be expected to understand its architecture and occasionally pull the carburetor as well.
I don't know where you got that from but it's just plain wrong.
There have been several.
A quick search google came up with an example from 2001 - the MAC/Simpsons@MM virus.
There would have been many others too, had I been bothered to scroll down.
My solution for friends and family that ask for technical support is simply that I will help them out if they have a Macintosh. Otherwise, there is no way I have the time to troubleshoot and support Windows, Linux or other Unix operating systems.
In other words, to paraphrase "I am no longer competent to administer or help out with anything more complicated than a toaster, as I haven't worked in the field in years. But rather than admit my own shortcomings, I'm going to blame my atrophied skillset and laziness on you and make you feel guilty for having chosen to run an operating system I am no longer familiar with. Furthermore, I'm going to take that guilt and leverage it into evangelizing the One and Only Computer System(tm) according to My Doctrine(tm): Apple."
Which would be fine, except for the blaming others, guilt trips, and blind evangelism.
I too encourage anyone and everyone who will listen to use something (anything!) other than Microsoft products, and actively encourage people to switch to FreeBSD, Linux, or Apple, but I do not refuse to help friends and family out when they're in a bind, regardless of what they use, and I certainly don't mask my own incompetence in blind evangelism, and make them feel somehow inadequate for my own failings.
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
Macs will never get 90% and Apple has no intention of doing so.
Now that right there is not really a smart sentance. you started out ok. but the last half just is non-sense. You are telling me that Apple has no inentions of becoming the number 1 computer company in the world? i would beg to differ as an ex apple employee we had all kinds of webinars (not realy that word but i just learned that in the poll forum so i will use it cause it is fun) talking about and introducing plans to become the number 1 computer company. in fact i rember #1 in 2001 wow that was so catchy. cant imagine why i quit.
I'm not sure the term "technophobe" describes such people. I would define a technophobe as someone who is afraid of technology. Most of my friends and family who are technically ignorant, asking for help, aren't really afraid of technology -- they just lack the ability to understand it.
How about "technilliterate" as a substitute term?
Proverbs 21:19
The problem is that computers, as they are now, cannot be used in the way that many people expect to be able to use them (as a result of marketing campaigns). They see all the cool features and want some of that, but have the impression that they can just use it like a toaster when it's really much more complicated.
I think that both ends are going to have to be moved. People will have to learn a few things about How Stuff Works, and computers will continue to get better at taking care of things when they can. But yes, there's some really complicated stuff going on in the background with a lot of variables. It's simply not going to be as easy as people seem to have been lead to believe.
WMBC freeform/independent online radio.
Really. I'm fine with someone who's *intimidated* by a computer, afraid they'll break something, or just real cautious. But I lose all patience with people who are willfully ignorant and refuse to learn anything (and then conveniently blame a system or component for being "too hard").
I find that there's almost a kind of class attitude about this -- people who practice willful ignorance also think this somehow makes them more upper class or something because they're not having to sully their hands learning some technical skill. Sadly I also see a gender bias, with a lot of women taking that tact.
I actually had a huge fight with my wife about this one time. She is a marketing exec who was going on a long business trip to California. Prior to leaving, she asked their office's IT guy (small office, only one full-time admin/helpdesk guy) to configure her laptop for remote access. The night before she left, she pulled out her laptop and was *furious* that it didn't work and that it was jeopardizing other business she needed to keep up with while away. I asked her if she made any attempt to work with the IT guy, and she said no, she was too busy. I told her that it must not have been important to use remote access then, if she wasn't willing to spend 5 minutes running through it with the IT guy.
It's either important or its not, and bitching at the IT guy because you weren't willing to put ANY effort into it is total bullshit. The tools are valuable, but like it or not they are somewhat complicated and unless you work with them all the time, you need to put a small amount of effort into them to make them work for you.
And at that point her frustration with her deadlines and travel and my frustration from working with self-important marketing people dovetailed really nicely and we had a huge fight.
Google link, for the tin foil hat impaired
That's ENABLED, you insensitive clod!!!!
mefus
In Open Society, GPL Software frees YOU!
Being free tech support to tons of friends/family, I have learned a few very helpful tips to those of us that take the time to share our knowledge of (I hate to admit this) fairly simple to learn tasks. I know this is pretty Windows specific, but come on so is this class of tech support.
Pass these along to those that ask you to bail them out each time they have to figure out what a right click is.
There you go, now you know enough that I can probably walk you through fixing 99% of your problems over the phone, or preventing them all together!
Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence in society - M. Twain
...when you're writing a game...tweak the difficulty of "Easy" to something [your mother] can cope with. -- onion2k
Now that right there is not really a smart sentance. you started out ok. but the last half just is non-sense. You are telling me that Apple has no inentions of becoming the number 1 computer company in the world?
Exactly, just as Subaru has no intention of becoming the number 1 car maker in the world. You can either try to mass-market your product with low profit margin (and it's very difficult to attain profitability with this kind of strategy on the tight PC market) or try to run a kind of computer boutique - sell in relatively low volume, but with very high profit margin. Since return of Steve Jobs, Apple obviously embraced the latter strategy (that's why there are no clones and there are interesting experiments with "luxury" computers, like the G4 Cube, the 20" iMac or the Big Al powerbook).
Yes, Some Buzzword complient person that has no real understanding of the underlaying issues it pretty annoying. The kind of person that buys P4's to Make the Internet go faster TM Intel with his 56K dial-up.
However what tend to irritate me more is someone that has no interest in finding out what was wrong. Meaning that even if it is a absolutely simple issue that person will have no qualms asking for help with same problem a week later.
People that complains about pop-ups but refuses to use Mozilla even with IE skin. You know the type.
Help fight continental drift.
I've eventually come to the conclusion that I no longer am in the mood to answer tech questions for my friends, either naive or otherwise expert, until they convince me that they'll actually learn something on their own. Sure, it takes me five minutes to answer a question that might require an hour or more of research, but when someone's just given an answer without having to do the footwork, they don't respect the value of the knowledge. This ultimately leads to a never ending stream of 5 minute interruptions from someone who's not willing to learn for themselves. On the other hand, if they did the hours of research, not only do they gain the satisfaction of learning something new, they've probably just eliminated their next hundred 5 minute questions, thus saving both of us time. It's tough love, but sometimes that's what it takes to get someone else to respect knowledge.
Oh, but look at this! MAC/Simpsons@MM is actually an AppleScript worm that uses Microsoft products to propogate!
You believe Mac's are a better platform? Fine.
Try convincing the rest of the world. You'll find that when you tell the next PC user that you only support Mac is that he won't "get it". That is because you won't take the time to go a little bit onto the PC side of the world, and help him through his problem. If you help him through his problem, he might actually gain your trust and consider your advise on Macs. Empathize with him. Don't put him off, or you'll come off as ignorant, and your words will go right past his ears.
We need more people to help others regardless of situation. Just the first few comments was how to get out of the being-leeched-tech-helper situation. No one becomes any less of a technophobe if they aren't given a chance.
I support all platforms, even when I hate Mac, and have a strong distate for Windows. But I never approach a question to being, "your using the wrong platform." I fix their problem, and swallow my thoughts before they become words. I recommend ways to keep using their computer without losing IE, OE, for example, or their other old work-horses. I don't force them to change. If they seem interested in alternivates, I may suggest mozilla. It may seem backwards to have them keep using IE and windows, but maybe, I'll save them time and frustration moving to another setup. And it will save me time showing them how to use it. I'll fix the problem, right out, and show that I do have skill, and gain their trust, so maybe I can give them real help when times are more desperate.
I frankly believe, we need more honest and capable tech support people. And definately not be a bad tech support like some else said, or put them off. Because what will happen, is people will flock to the few that do give honest help, and overload them, or continue picking up the bad apples out of the bunch. If we don't approach being a good tech support seriously, there will continue to be the so called technophobe impact, regardless of what platform.
Finland has had 'driver's license' for computer users since 1994. 141 000 finnish computer users have got it. The Finnish Computer Driving Licence is an IT examination for everyone, the first of its kind. It is intended for those who have used computers very little, very much or not at all. It is mostly required if you're applying for a certain kind of job.
You can get some more information here
After finding that a couple of my neighbors felt comfortable calling me up any old time and getting an hour or two of free help, I've just learned to feign cluelessness when asked for technical advice.
Neighbor wants to know if he needs a firewall? I say "oh yes, they're very good. You should buy a cisco PIX".
Advice on a printer? "I don't really trust those inkjet printers. See if you can find a good Centronics dot-matrix printer. Of course, you'll want to write your own driver software, and..."
By then, their eyes usually glaze over and I can safely wander away.
You are forgetting an important difference. In Linux most people don't login as root to read their e-mail, and all the machine's file system is read-only except the user's home directory.
In Windoze, everything is wide open, and most people log in as admin by default!
I tried to change this in my computer at home. I removed my user and my wife's from the Administrator's group and set all the filesystem to read-only except for administrators. It went damn wrong. The damn machine went crazy, lots of applications were broken, specially those from Microsoft (strange).
I gave up. Just added me and my wife to the admins again. I don't have the time to set up the whole damn thing.
That's why I say Windows is inherently insecure. A lot.
Don't know about Macs, though.
Way to go to stick up for the IT guy and get into a fight with your wife. That's some true balls man (or just asking for pain). ;)
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
I learned my lesson working at the help desk of the dorm computer lab. People go for the path of least resistance. I once had a girl sit down at a machine, immediately turn to me and ask "where's the internet?" becuase I was right next to her and she knew I worked there. She didn't even look at the screen! She didn't even take the time to look for the internet explorer icon and click on it, because it was easier to turn her head and ask me to do it for her. I now hide in the office. There are various signs around the lab which take care of most problems like - Zip drives DO NOT read floppies, please do not put a floppy in the Zip drive. I haven't had to break out the tweezers since I posted a few of those. When I sat out at the desk, people would just yell out questions from across the lab. It's much less convinient to walk to the office, pop your head in, and ask. If they have to go through the effort of walking across the room, they're much more likely to figure things out on their own, or bother the person at the machine next to them. If they do come to office, we know it's something that they probably really do need help with and we try to teach them. We have a policiy of never doing anything for anyone. We make them sit at the computer and we just talk them through what to click on. Even if it is the 100th time I've had to show someone how to click on Attach File to attach a file to their email.
While the New York Times makes its money breeding "divisions" between "phobes" and "philes" in every human endeavor, geeks make money by bringing together people with technology. I am the "designated geek" for many circles of friends and relatives, but I long ago lost patience with giving free help. The worst part is that people think it's worth what they're paying: NOTHING. So they just want someone to take care of it for them, and ignore any actual "advice", usually repeating the problem again.
So I have some consultants in my address book who I refer to those in need. It's like having a plumber to call, except plumbers cost twice as much, and there's that buttcrack to contend with. The pressure is off me, my friends don't feel guilty about calling, they actually take the advice seriously (and avoid paying for repeat calls), and the geeks for hire make money off people with more money than sense. I don't know why it took me so long to start doing it. I guess some kind of ego trip. I definitely look a lot better to my friends by sending them the right help than I did scratching my head and cursing over bad cables on cheap hard drive installs. And the geeks all owe me, when I need something special myself.
--
make install -not war
I've also been the victim of the "you know computers, can you help me" club. I now limit that interaction to close friends and some family (who fortunately are all at least 500 miles away). For everyone else, my answer is this: My time is valuable. If you want me to fix your computer, I charge $70/hr, minimum of 30 minutes. I reached the point where I was getting tired of being taken advantage of.
That being said, I see two larger issues in all this techno illiterate world. The first is obvious to anyone who knows about Windows vs. Linux. Simply put, you can't secure a system that is inherently insecure. Windows users run as "root". Period. Apps that run on it have free reign. App design deficiencies are a real close second though. MyDoom doesn't affect systems that don't use Outlook. Lotus Notes and Eudora spring to mind. My wife was unaffected my MyDoom. Monoculture is not good, kids.
I can't really blame the users fully. They don't know any better and I think it is arrogant of the technoelite (of which I consider myself a member) to expect the rest of the world to bow down to our ideals and expectations of what someone has to know to use a computer.
Which brings me to my second point. The problem isn't the users, it's the computers themselves. Specifically, their interfaces. We've had GUI interfaces for almost 20 years now and frankly, we are still no further ahead in usability. GUI's were supposed to make things easier. All they've done is increase confusion and create new and wonderful ways to breed complexity.
You'd figure after 20 years that we would be coming up with ways of making computers know a little more about how to get things done. I'm not talking Utopian dreams of voice or 3D interfaces, but the building of knowledge into the system. I'm sorry, kids, listening to a CD, ripping some music, sending e-mail or watching a video clip on a computer should not be a chore! People do not care whether a document is .doc, pdf, .txt or .sxw, a video clip is an MPG, RM or an AVI. They get angry when it doesn't work when they just want it to. If the plug-in or player isn't present, give the computer the knowledge to know where to go get it, download it , guide the user through installation and then do the original task. Some programs do better than other at this but it is still often obtuse and fraugth with peril.
We should be listening to these users. Ask them: "How do you think this task should be done?". Have them explain it in terms they know. Get from them the picture in their head of how they think it should be done. It is the hardest thing to do in the world because what they think they want vs. want they really want are often two very different things.
As a result, the following maxim can apply:
The complexity of an application or task is inversely proportional to how simple the user thinks it is. - Matt Pickering
Translated: The easier someone thinks it is to do on a computer, the harder it will be for the developer to write. Conversely, the harder or complicated the user thinks the task is, the easier it usually is to write. I have observed this phenomena over the years and the maxim holds true. The more complicated someone thinks something is to do often I find to be straightforward. Then they come up with things that seem simple to them and they turn out to be devilishly difficult to produce (if not impossible).
Instead of us continuing to create more complex, feature-rich and elaborate applications and environments, we should be embracing these users (people like my parents who are computer clueless) and ask them how we should be
I've been to many a foreign country without knowing the language or having a translator. It's amazing how much can be communicated without language. Of course, a little humility goes a long way in these situations.
I think it's funny people complain so much about technical illiterates. If your friends and family is good people, then what goes around will eventually come around. If you've surrounded yourself with users, than you have a more fundamental problem. As for Ms. Tauber's "moody people" analogy, I think she's right on the money. The logic gates in the CPU might be "purely logical," barring the occasional flipped bit or Pentium bug, but the modern day computer experience is comprised of layers upon layers of code, with arbitrary constructs, metaphors, and bugs strewn throughout. What we see on the computer screen (the conscious mind) is but the tip of the iceberg, supported by a vast, subconscious motley of processes, protocols, libraries, etc., all interacting in strange and often suboptimal ways. I'm a bush league computer guru, pathetic by Slashdot standards but accredited god-like status by my coworkers, and there are many times when I have no idea what the problem is. We've all that experience with that intermittent problem that won't go away and can't be diagnosed.
No, because then it's no longer a computer, it's a glorified appliance.
Then maybe they shouldn't use a computer.
Considering that no one has ever been "taught" but humans inherently have to put effort into learning, then, yes, it is their fault.
In which case, they shouldn't use it (I don't for that very reason).
No, "skilled industrial designers" need to design appliances and other tools with relatively few functions for complete morons. The rest of us are perfectly happy with our computers that have infinite uses and possibilities.
Hmm, and yet to drive a car with an automatic transmission, you must still have a drivers license and training. Maybe we should have a license required to use a computer before you can get on the net, just like you have to have a license to use a car on publicly funded roads.
No, it's obviously NOT over because there is still a need for computer nerds, and there are still computer nerds. Software designers need realize nothing other than what their users requirements are: ie, if the are developing a general purpose operating system, it should be able to do what a general purpose operating system can do; if they are designing an MP3 player, it should play MP3s, no more, no less.
Nathan's blog
I couldn't agree with this article more. I think computer science should be a mandatory high school credit after this experience. I was a technical manager for a major media conference and I had to work with someone who was, by her own admission, completely technophobic (scary part: she was the conference's media contact!) She was completely unreasonable with her demands on the conference web site. She asked me to teach her how to build and maintain a site, but that went nowhere. After awhile, I had to prevent her from logging into the conference's web server out of fear of her making radical (and dangerous) overhauls to the site. Finally, she managed to screw up sending a document via courier on a CD that was corrupt and unreadable. My solution? I contacted the tech guy at the company the document was originally to be sent to, logged onto FTP, sent it via the web - it was done in five minutes. I also had to make an advertisement via layout and graphics programs - she had no idea how the programs worked, what these programs are even capable of doing, and what looks good (and not so good) from a design point of view. I went through a series of battles with her, trying to make her realize that what she wanted was impossible. The kicker came when we had to get web access at the conference. I set up the internet in a hotel room for all the organizers to use, as it had been designated the "war room" and my director wanted it there. So I set it up for them. She calls me on our two-way cell and goes crazy on me for not setting up the web in *her* room. This, after I had spent the first day of the event getting everyone their cells, organizing laptops, getting a PowerPoint presentation finished, and setting up a major A/V system at a huge federal government building and battling with hotel staff in figuring out how to get past their firewall to log into a high speed web connection (this hotel wasn't the most cooperative in giving me instructions). Finally, my director had enough and told her to quit harping on me about it. She was pouty for the rest of the event, giving me the cold shoulder and assuming it was my fault that I didn't set up her precious web access in her room. And here's the last bit on info: this girl was only 23. So not all twentysomethings know computers. Only the incompetant ones.
After being laid off from another tech-wreck, I purchased my desktop box as they seemed to have a few extra after downsizing from 10000+ to 7 hundred. My brother, a tech-illiterate, has never had a computer but he wanted one so the kiddies could use it for school, games, etc.
I added a graphics card, DVD, CDRW and mucho software. I dropped it off at his place, gave him a very brief intro (showed him how to start the games) and said call me when you get the internet set-up. When he got the local ISP hardware, I went over, set the PC up, showed him and his equally illiterate wife how to send/receive e-mail and surf safely. I returned home happy with having introduced the family to the wonders of the net.
Not TWO days past before I get a call from my Bro, which I expected because he's techno-illiterate. He asked me where I had put the OS install CD. I was stunned.
It turned out that at work he was discussing with his work buddies (all labourers/plumbers/welders/etc) his computer learning, adventures and problems from the night before. Them being the computing know-it-alls they are, decided that they could 'fix' his problems. Well, with the days work being cancelled due to weather (it was -40 with the wind chill) they headed over to my bro's place for the big fixing session. By the time my brother called me the PC would no longer boot.
Making a long, painful story short, I had to re-install everything (can you believe they actually screwed with the BIOS?). It wasn't the tech-illiterate that was the problem. It was the tech-know-it-all. The people who are most dangerous are those that think they can fix anything with no experience, books, knowledge or common sense.
The car metaphor worked well here too. I told them that the computer may have had a broken tail light or maybe had the equivalent of a weak alternator but that was no reason to replace the entire power train.
I made my brother swear not to let anyone else near his PC. If he did - then he forfeit my gratious tech-support services.
The details of the 'reasoning' on the 'fixing' still keep me awake at night though....
Here's what you should say when she does it:
"Man that sucks. That could ruin your whole trip and cost the company money"
"He really fouled that up".
"Typical. Those guys are idiots"
"What a jerk. He should have been more responsive"
Extra points for pretending to be sincere while you are saying it. They like that.
If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem
I'm sick of providing free tech support for Microsoft. But it is no all MS's fault. My parents and many of their friends are just lazy and cheap about keeping their computers secure. They bring all kinds of crazy/crappy application software home from work and install it, and then when they have a problem, I'm supposed to be an expert on accounting software to help them out, etc. At work, people install all kinds of spyware-laced crap like Hotbar and then wonder why their computer has slowed to a crawl. Most people are just idiots and shouldn't be allowed to use computers at all.
I think the main difference is people never (or at least I'd think never) ask their doctor friend for free on-going treatment, or their lawyer friend to defend them in court for free, but lots of people expect that level of help from their computer friends.
Don't get me wrong, I sympathize with the doctors and lawyers, but if I got the same types of questions about computers they get about ilnesses and legal advice I'd be much less prone to complaining about it.
I really don't mind answering which motherboard should I buy? or which computer store o you deal with? or what's the difference between Linux and Windows/MacOS? These questions, even the last one, which they rarely expect a long answer to, take very little time and usually spark more interesting converation.
What I don't like is "something's wrong with my computer, it won't talk to my roommate's computer can you fix it for me?". If I say no I llok like a jerk but if I say yes I could be at it for a few seconds or a few days depending on what the problem really is. (99.9% of people I know do not keep backups and have not upgraded or re-installed since the introduction of Windows 95, but they do blindly trust every program they find for free or close to it.
...Since I know a lot of people who DO neglect their cars. A LOT of people think that it's time to change the oil when the oil light comes on and would not give it any thought before then. Those same people only pay attention to tires when they go flat or it's time to out the Winter set on, and will drive both their sets of tires until they're bald. You can forget about them thinking about ATF, flushing the cooling system once in awhile or changing brake pads before they wear out and grind rivet grooves into the rotors.
Car makers have done a WAY better job in usability and reliability than PC/software makers. Even east-European and South Korean cars made today are better than almost all PCs on the market today. I've heard the argument that people ought to have computer operators licenses--after all, we all learn the rules of the road and obey them to avoid fatal accidents...well, MOST of the time...But ponder what it would be like if Microsoft and Intel made cars and see how many people would die on the highways:
1. You'd have to take your car in for monthly service to remove tar-like deposits from your engine and have the ignition control system 'defragmented'.
2. The location of the gas, brake and clutch would change with each new model year, and each model would be different as well. Also, the steering wheel would be a different size or shape and the gears on the gearshift would chage orders.
3. The leading carmaker would make their new cars use a different fuel, and using the wrong fuel in the wrong car would make the engine catch fire. The new fuel is meant to "increase performance and relibility" of their new models but conveniently destroys competitors models and their own older models.
4. You will be forced to buy a brand new car after 5 years because they stop making parts for it, and use legal tactics to keep anyone else from using their precious obsolete IP to make replicas.
5. Cars spontaneously crash much less than they did a few years ago, but they still often stall on the side of the road for no apparent reason, you cant turn on the headlights while using cruise control and it's common knowledge that when the turn signals stop working, you must fully shut of the car and all occupants must exit and shut the doors behind them, wait 30 seconds then get back in and re-start the car. These problems have existed for 20 years but are of such low priority that they linger on.
6. Every car is required by the manufacturer to be equipped with OnStar-style tracking system "for safety reasons". It's handy when your call stalls so frequently and it costs nothing extra. However, the OnStar system is polluted with marketers broadcasting spam to all the cars, which make your radio tune to stations you don't like and interfere with vital engine systems, reducing your top speed to 50 km/h and increasing gas consumption 400%. Time to "get the engine defragged" again...
Taking the car analogy further. If the typical driver were like the typical computer user, this would be the scene at the local autorepair shop:
Driver: My car goes "ching ching ching" and then stalls.
Tech: Let's open up the hood and see what's wrong. Hmmm, funny smell. [checks engine oil] Hey! This isn't engine oil! What did you use?
Driver: I put in four quarts of oil, just like everyone says you're supposed to.
Tech: But this is cooking oil!
Driver: So, oil is oil.
Tech: And what are all these magnets doing taped around the carbeurator?
Driver: I read on the internet that they help improve mileage.
Tech: Geez, I can't believe this. This isn't even a stock Ford engine. What did you do to it?
Driver: Oh, that must have been my eight year old son. He's so smart when it comes to automobiles. Anytime I have a problem I make him fix it. But he's at camp now so I had to come in to you.
Tech: Okay, I can fix this up, but it's going to be expensive.
Driver: Expensive! Why? I thought you enjoyed working on cars. Tell you what. You fix it up, and I'll cook you a nice dinner...
Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
As a quickie CV, I worked from helpdesk frontline to personal support over about 4 years. In between I became a helpdesk supervisor, network specialist, sometime sysadmin, etc. All this for my university IT office, while studying for a CS degree. Now I'm a software engineer.
Dealing with strangers:
This is the easiest, because most of the time, if they asked you for help, they already expect you to know more then they do. They'll usually listen to you and follow your steps.
- Evaluate the audience - try to figure out if they are the "professor without power" user, or the weekend sysadmin who hosed his user disk
- Once you know the level, speak to that leve.
- Drop the attitude - no one calling cares what you know. No one cares how smart and important you are. And if you don't know the answer, don't spew forth ridiculous answers you know will confuse them so they stop bothering you. Whether you get paid, or not, you've agreed to help. so do it.
- Look at the guys in Gamestop. If you find yourself acting like one of those guys, stop trying to help and go home and half-finish your xbox mod
Dealing with friends:This can be tough, because your friends are voyeurs. They want to watch.
also, they don't want to waste your time, so they will try to lear what they can. Often you're shanghai-ed from fixing the cdrom (which, of course, was just a scratched cd) to showing them the location of all the best porn.
- Fix the problem as fast as you can, and don't let him sidetrack you.
- "I'll fix this, then we can address Janet Jackson's boom-boom bitties" will work wonders. Often, any of the myriad questions that would have waylaid you for minutes to hours will become a distant memory by the magic of the now WORKING cd-rom (which you had a backup of, luckily) and Ms. Jackson's Nasty nip
- Be prepared to help him in many ways. Spend the night. Then date his sister. As they say, it is a dish best served... cold.
- Look at the guys in Gamestop. If you find your friend acting like one of those guys, stop trying to help and go home and let him half-finish his xbox mod himself
Dealing with a spouse/signifigant other:Absolutely the most difficult task in IT.
You're just adding fuel into the fire. I have something about the damn registry, too. At my work, I don't have admin privileges on my machine. But I have write access to all the partitions, including full access to the system FS (thank God!).
I cannot write in the registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, it's ok, I shouldn't be allowed to write there. But some of my apps are broken because of that. No app should try to write on that part of the registry except when it is installed, all should use HKEY_CURRENT_USER. Those apps are not well-behaved.
Strangely, the apps I'm talking about are mostly Micro$oft. So, they are so concerned about the security of their system that they design their apps assuming full access in the system! See what I mean?
Other example:
In my college the machines run w2k, the disk and the registry are protected, otherwise they would last a few hours. Some apps are broken, of course. Even so, I find all kinds of shitware installed and I can't uninstall it because I don't have permissions!
Installing a fresh Linux may be more difficult than installing Windoze, but installing a secure Linux is much much easier than a secure Windows.
I can't deny your points about popularity, but there are some mitigating factors that need to be mentioned. How long an exploit remains unpatched is a huge factor. Nothing really new makes it out to the script kiddee level until the real discoverers exploit it privately for a few months.
What's disturbing about MS products is that users have been hit harder by minor variant viruses finding a way around previously patched bugs, than by the actually novel exploit, and people who give a damn about security and do cooperate with good practices aren't seeing nearly as much improvement in their chances as they should.
I know that last point is a bit subjective - just how much safer is not being totally clueless going to make you? - Answer: YMMV.
Certainly, if Linux, (or BSD, or OS X) had 18 times its current market share, there would be about 18 times as many people trying to find holes in it. There might even be 18 times as many genuinely original viruses, worms, and trojans written. (I think it would be somewhat better, maybe only 9 times instead of 18, but you could well be right).I don't think there would be 18 times as many minor variants and kit bashed exploits as there are now, following on those, and I don't think those minor variants would spread as effectively or do as much damage (economically speaking at least).
Who is John Cabal?
Average people don't know the difference between a .jpg an .exe. There are two solutions:
1) Assume everyone on Earth has perfect and complete knowledge of everything, including messages like "error pqx7923.8", which is the current model of software development.
2) Give messages that are in ENGLISH and MEAN SOMETHING. Yes, I know this is totally radical and completely new and unheard of in software. That's because I'm a hardware engineer.
For instance, when clicking on an exe, a message could come up that says "Clicking on an unknown executable is the computer equivalent of swapping body fluids with a stranger. Are you SURE you want to do this?"
Once upon a time, it was really no contest between Macs and PCs. Macs had this user-friendly graphical interface, and Windows had this half-assed imitation. But over the years, Windows got better, Intel machines got faster and cheaper, and Mac hardware and software stagnated, until Windows systems, while still a bit awkward and less elegant than Macs, were pretty close, and faster and cheaper. Using a Mac was a matter of choosing esthetics over performance.
And then OSX came along. I've been using OSX for awhile, and with each version it's gotten a bit better, but I still had an idea that the relative status of Macs and Windows systems was about the same.
And then my sister asked me to set up her new Dell. What a pain! I had gotten used to the way almost nothing bogs down Mac OS X. You can be doing almost anything--even applying a system update--and you can switch to another application and go about your business. When you install and update Mac OS X, you generally have to reboot the system twice, three times at most, to get it absolutely up to date. Most application installs do not require a reboot. Installing Windows XP was a horrible exercise in frustration. I think I had to reboot over a dozen times to get the system and applications up to date. It was an all day affair. Not to mention having to install and update the virus software that is necessary to prevent a non-sophisticated user of a Windows system from getting completely overrun with infections and spyware.
Even after installing it, it seemed slow and clunky. And this is not in comparison to some super-duper G5, but to my old 800 MHz G4 Powerbook. Now I'm sure that new 2.6 GHz Dell would smoke my Powerbook in any number of benchmarks. But routine things like windows redraws just seemed so slow. And most of the standard software seemed so clumsily designed.
And I realized...the old days are back.
First, I tell my friends that I know absolutely nothing about MS Windows, and cannot help them with that. If I'm feeling generous I offer a Knoppix test drive and then I offer to install Linux. I insist that they have a modem for remote access. To start with they don't get the root password. If they are going to use the internet I insist they get the satellite system to report their current IP number to me. A site vist deserves a meal.
delibarate incompetence
I hate those arrogant types who delibarately choose to be incapable of even checking whether the power lead has fallen out "because that's technical and I am a liberal arts graduate" - as if that is something for them to feel superior about.
I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.
So I propose the Tech Support Mother Exchange. You answer my mom's tech questions, I'll answer yours. We'll both get fewer 3 am panic phone calls because our moms will have *gasp* listened the first time.
I've found that my posts don't format quite right w/o a sig.
whose technology has been around for only around 25 years or so and I'll show you one complicated, frustrating machine to use.
But unlike most people, I'm totally fascinated by them and willing to spend thousands upon thousands of hours poking and prodding and experimenting. But I certainly do understand people's frustration and utter bafflement with these things. I sure as hell get frustrated tyring to do just about ANY new task with them. I recently got into doing a little video editing. I burned an mpeg2 to my hard drive. I played it and it worked fine. Then I transferred the video to another machine running the very same software (or so I thought) and it won't work! I'm informed I don't have the right "codec". So now I have to spend an hour or boning up (again) on the latest video compression technologies when all I wanted to do was show a 3 minute video of my kid. Any mortal would just throw up their hands and say "What the fuck!" and go spend some quality time with the family---probably a much more rewarding pursuit.
Also, it takes LOTS of practice to think in the abstract universe of a comuter, even for something as "simple" as word processing with a GUI. Compare it to a typewriter. You hit a physical key and see some metal object whack a sheet of paper on a roll and leaving a black inky stain behind that looks like a letter. Then you rub a gummy piece of rubber on the paper if you make a mistake. And if you fuck up too much, you start over. It's limited and pain in the ass technology but it has the advantage of laying out most of its inner workings right out in front of you. Not so writing a letter on a computer...you have to worry about fonts, colors, layout, images, spell checkers, grammar checkers, etc. all hidden by funky keystrokes/drop down menus/and bizarre mouse movement & click combinaions.
Computers are a new technology that most people have not grown up with and therefore far from intuitive. It's only a matter of course that many users are confused and that computer geeks get frustrated helping them. But as much as it can be annoying, patience and handholding is required. There really isn't a way aroud it and it's the only way to make the world a little more civil. Rest assured that as the years slide by, the technology will improve, and the kids today will be running the world and our pissed-off-selves will have moved on to something else to get annoyed with.
So, there you go.
---Technology will liberate us if it doesn't enslave us first.
I think the problem is deeper and more pervasive: We are becoming a nation of incompetents, or rather, people with such narrow, specialized skill sets that we are incapable of solving problems outside our tiny areas of expertise. I once came across a copy of the "Ladies Home Journal" from 1910 or so. I was amazed by the levels of competence the writers assumed to exist in the readers. Apparently it wasn't uncommon for most/many people of this era to know how to repair all sorts of mechanical devices, raise crops, build additions to their homes, tend to the sick, garden, sew, design clothes, etc. I know that in many ways we are better off today than in 1910 (better medical care, longer lifespan, etc) but we have lost something as well. It is crazy that people who are neurosurgeons, attorneys, university professors should feel terrified in the face of a personal computer. What has happened to values such as self-reliance, ingenuity and competence?