Contest For a Better Open-WRT Wireless Router GUI

Reader RoundSparrow sends word of a contest, with big cash prizes, being mounted by a commercial vender of open source Open-WRT routers. You have 10 months to come up with "the most impressive User Interface/Firmware for Ubiquiti's newly released open-source embedded wireless platform, the RouterStation." Entries are required to have open source licensing and will all be released. First prize is $160,000, with four runners-up receiving $10,000. RoundSparrow adds: "Could be built on top of existing X-WRT or LuCI OpenWRT web interfaces. OpenWRT Kamikaze 8.09 was just released. Now is perfect timing for OpenWRT to get some kick-ass interface and usability ideas. I'm not affiliated with the contest vendor."

Comments

Re:X-WRT?

[aliquis]

Yo dawg! I heard you was smoking, so I put a bong in your thong so you can smoke while you smoke!

Re:needs an easy way to edit firewall rules

[causality]

If you a) don't know how to properly do something and b) refuse to learn how to properly do it, then it makes sense to ask (or hire) someone else to do it for you.

This is something I've never entirely understood about computing. Why should it be easy for someone with no knowledge of computers be easy to do relatively complex tasks, like a complex OS install or configuring a firewall?

Most people are too terrified to open the bonnet of their car to check the oil, and rely on paying someone to fix it when it breaks. Yet most people physically capable of driving a car would be able to check the oil and top it up correctly. A sizeable subset of these people could change the oil correctly, with a simple guide, but they still choose to spend money getting someone to do it for them. Why not spend money on getting someone to set your network up properly?

That's what gets me about this whole thing. So many users want to perform tasks they don't understand and they want this to have good results each time. No matter how kindly you tell them that this is unrealistic, they get upset and accuse you of being an "elitist" or they give you some crap about how "not everyone can be an expert" even when the bit of knowledge they would need in their specific case is a far cry from being an "expert". At the same time, they don't apply these unrealistic expectations to any other domain, as you have explained in your discussion about automobile maintainence. On top of this, computer and networking knowledge is very easy to find; the information is out there and readily available to anyone who wants to study it. In fact, I can't think of any other industry involving complex machinery or skilled labor that has anything approaching the wealth of freely available information and step-by-step guides that can be found for computing.

It's hard not to see these things and view those users as a bunch of spoiled children. I don't want to view them that way, I take no pleasure in it at all, but sometimes they seem to want me to do so. Certainly they act the part, and it's unfortunate because they could put that effort towards overcoming these challenges. Saying "this is how I learned and you are able to do the same" is a statement of equality, not elitism. It seems like it is only in computing that a person resents you for trying to teach him how to fish so that he can take care of his own needs and praises you for giving him a fish so he never gains his own understanding. Of course helping someone out is one thing, but I don't feel like I am really doing a person any favor if I encourage them to have a needless dependency on me for easy answers. I think that needless dependency is what we cultivate when we just hand out easy answers without explaining why something works or why it's the right answer and encouraging the person to develop their own understanding.