Ah, just wait until you're 50. You'll probably have the same problem learning how to use the hypergizmo interface they've come up with by then.
Sorry. I'm not buying that. I know 50 year olds, 60 year olds and 70 year olds who have picked up computers in their later years and are willing to learn. Yes, they do struggle, but that's different from the stubborn type that refuse to learn.
I was helping one old guy, and he kept asking questions and writing stuff down in a battered old notebook. Sometimes he would flick back through the pages and ask to clarify something someone else had told him. It was hard for him - with the old memory cells not being what they used to be, but boy did he try - and the notebook helped. He also loved to demonstrate what he had learned so far. I think he's in his sixties , and never owned a computer until a few years ago. Retired truck driver so not exactly a techie type (but I bet he could fix a diesel motor with one hand tied behind his back).
Respect for one's elders does not include putting up with self-limiting stubbornness - and not all seniors are that stubborn.
...Or for that matter, any cameras without this "feature".
And once the market demand goes down, people will just stop using them.
except that the article states that this problem is anticipated by the promoters of this technology, so the promoters are saying that in order for this to work it needs to be government mandated:
An HP representative said the company had no current plans to commercialize the technology, which would require widespread adoption by camera makers and possibly government mandates to be financially practical.
Re:Games, Peripherals, Security and Useability...
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Linux, Inc.
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· Score: 1
Now we're heading into some interesting territory - so I'm going to throw in a bold statement for discussion:
"The general purpose computer is not ready for the unassisted novice."
I believe a set-top box with an embedded browser, email client and wordpad-ish app is all some people need, along with a NATed ISP connection. I work in a call centre for one of New Zealand's largest ISPs, and I can tell you the Dilbertesque tech support stories are not urban legends. See my latest JE.
Re:Here is the real answer:
on
Linux, Inc.
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· Score: 1
Network transparency
That one's my favourite. My 500MHz box is too slow for my liking, so I ssh into my wife's 2GHz box and run apps like OOo remotely. X11 is a great protocol for doing this, and it doesn't slow down the other box noticeably.
Re:Games, Peripherals, Security and Useability...
on
Linux, Inc.
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· Score: 1
how about the newb to a computer or a seasoned windows user who is used to plugging it in(any digital camera) and it works right then.
That's exactly what did happen with the cameras I tried. These were not selected for compatibility - they just happened to be cameras that friends brought to my place, and I didn't do anything special other than plug it in. When a new icon appears on your desktop the moment you plug the device in, that's pretty much plug'n'play to me.
As for routers - going through the LAN set-up wizard in windows is just as hard as the LAN set-up wizard in, say, Mandrake, for a newb. How many windows users get their grandson/nephew/nerd-next-door to set up their connection? I'd say quite a few.
Yes, I didn't mention games. If I was a gamer I'd have a windows box. I can't comment on an area I know nothing about - I'll admit that.
A modern distro will auto-detect the more common HP and Epson printers. I've heard lexmark are a pain in linux. I've never owned a lexmark printer. My crusty old LaserJet 4+ with JetDirect required me to run a printer wizard to tell Mandrake there's an LPD server on 192.168.1.4 - admittedly I'd never expect a newb to be able to do that. OTOH at a friends place I plugged his USB printer into my laptop (mandrake 10.0) and it asked for the mandrake install disk #1, whirred for a few seconds and then asked if I wanted to make it the default printer (I had the disks in the laptop bag). A newb could handle that.
Re:Games, Peripherals, Security and Useability...
on
Linux, Inc.
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· Score: 1
#2. i am talking about going to get a router, a digital camera, USB sticks, printers, plugging in the item or putting in the CD and it works RIGHT then.
Router you're kidding, right? A router is OS independent. Digital camera last few camera's I plugged into my linux box appeared as external storage on my KDE desktop. Just click on the icon representing the camera and a file browser pops up with your thumbnails. USB sticks same result as for cameras. Printers okay - you got me there. some just work out of the box. some don't. I've been lucky so far.
Your government probably is paying private companies like Monsanto. Google for "corporate welfare". Unfortunately, just because a company uses government grants doesn't mean that the tax-payer will see any benefit.
We have a voice recognition IVR. Any utterances not recognised are recorded for a human to decypher and tell the system what it means, so the IVR is learning. Your Turing test would have been amusement for the person with that job.
Two words: Fuck You! As a CSR I am sick of dealing with customers like you - I bend over backwards trying to resolve issues that are not of my making - usually caused by non-customer-facing people in other departmants like marketing or provisioning and I'm the guy that has to deal with all your crap that you feel you need to take out on me because I happen to be the first person in this company you come across. Fuck you! I'm sick of it.
Next time, take a deep breath, explain your problem calmly and you'll be surprised how helpful I'll be. Come on the phone spitting tacks and I'll just think you're a putz and I won't go out of my way for you. </rant>
f I wanted to listen to a call that was recorded at my company I just go get the dat tape, load it, search and retrieve the call
Takes a mere 10 to 15 minutes
Your company obviously doesn't have a 100+ seat call centre handling over 30k calls per day. And that's just in a small country like New Zealand. Over in America and Europe I hear they have 500+ seat call centres taking 100k+ calls per day.
or even a few weeks. When I did this for a living, un-evaluated calls had to be deleted weekly or we would run out of disk space. We kept the evaluated calls long enough for training issues to be addressed, agents to challenge their score, etc.
What the article doesn't state, is that we can also see what was on the agent's screen during the call. That includes browser windows, emails etc. I worked in the same building as the people I was monitoring, the team of monitors knew who was bonking who and all the goss because of emails that agents sent to each other during calls. To be honest, I usually didn't want to know and tried to ignore the goss and focus on the customer interaction (after marking the agent down for sending/reading personal emails when they should have been giving undivided attention to the customer - they should've left personal emails to between calls).
Now I'm back on the phones (at another call centre) and I'll get pinged for typing this:-)
Voluntary workers are more productive than forced labour (slavery). Aid workers helping tsunami victims are not slaves, even the ones who don't get paid (i.e. are supporting themselves by other means). People do stuff without tangible reward because they have philanthropic urges. Because they are nice.
I could not believe how stupid people were with home computers. I can. I work in a call centre for an ISP.
Was I the only one that actually set my clock ahead to see if anything would go wrong? Perhaps you and I were the only two:-)
Home PCs were not the problem. Financial institutions were the most vulnerable. Home lenders noticed the problem in the mid 1970s when the projected 25 year mortgages past 2000.
Slashdot Mirror
I use the wheel button, too!
Great for cut and paste in X11.
Ah, just wait until you're 50. You'll probably have the same problem learning how to use the hypergizmo interface they've come up with by then.
Sorry. I'm not buying that. I know 50 year olds, 60 year olds and 70 year olds who have picked up computers in their later years and are willing to learn. Yes, they do struggle, but that's different from the stubborn type that refuse to learn.
I was helping one old guy, and he kept asking questions and writing stuff down in a battered old notebook. Sometimes he would flick back through the pages and ask to clarify something someone else had told him.
It was hard for him - with the old memory cells not being what they used to be, but boy did he try - and the notebook helped.
He also loved to demonstrate what he had learned so far.
I think he's in his sixties , and never owned a computer until a few years ago. Retired truck driver so not exactly a techie type (but I bet he could fix a diesel motor with one hand tied behind his back).
Respect for one's elders does not include putting up with self-limiting stubbornness - and not all seniors are that stubborn.
How about helping those that want to break the yoke but can't.
My people were building empires and writing literature when yours were swinging from trees!
Thanks for reminding me - I've been meaning to get a copy of the Karma Sutra some time.
And once the market demand goes down, people will just stop using them.
except that the article states that this problem is anticipated by the promoters of this technology, so the promoters are saying that in order for this to work it needs to be government mandated:
touché
Now we're heading into some interesting territory - so I'm going to throw in a bold statement for discussion:
"The general purpose computer is not ready for the unassisted novice."
I believe a set-top box with an embedded browser, email client and wordpad-ish app is all some people need, along with a NATed ISP connection. I work in a call centre for one of New Zealand's largest ISPs, and I can tell you the Dilbertesque tech support stories are not urban legends. See my latest JE.
Network transparency
That one's my favourite. My 500MHz box is too slow for my liking, so I ssh into my wife's 2GHz box and run apps like OOo remotely. X11 is a great protocol for doing this, and it doesn't slow down the other box noticeably.
how about the newb to a computer or a seasoned windows user who is used to plugging it in(any digital camera) and it works right then.
That's exactly what did happen with the cameras I tried. These were not selected for compatibility - they just happened to be cameras that friends brought to my place, and I didn't do anything special other than plug it in.
When a new icon appears on your desktop the moment you plug the device in, that's pretty much plug'n'play to me.
As for routers - going through the LAN set-up wizard in windows is just as hard as the LAN set-up wizard in, say, Mandrake, for a newb. How many windows users get their grandson/nephew/nerd-next-door to set up their connection? I'd say quite a few.
Yes, I didn't mention games. If I was a gamer I'd have a windows box. I can't comment on an area I know nothing about - I'll admit that.
A modern distro will auto-detect the more common HP and Epson printers. I've heard lexmark are a pain in linux. I've never owned a lexmark printer. My crusty old LaserJet 4+ with JetDirect required me to run a printer wizard to tell Mandrake there's an LPD server on 192.168.1.4 - admittedly I'd never expect a newb to be able to do that. OTOH at a friends place I plugged his USB printer into my laptop (mandrake 10.0) and it asked for the mandrake install disk #1, whirred for a few seconds and then asked if I wanted to make it the default printer (I had the disks in the laptop bag). A newb could handle that.
#2. i am talking about going to get a router, a digital camera, USB sticks, printers, plugging in the item or putting in the CD and it works RIGHT then.
Router you're kidding, right? A router is OS independent.
Digital camera last few camera's I plugged into my linux box appeared as external storage on my KDE desktop. Just click on the icon representing the camera and a file browser pops up with your thumbnails.
USB sticks same result as for cameras.
Printers okay - you got me there. some just work out of the box. some don't. I've been lucky so far.
Let the goverment do it
Your government probably is paying private companies like Monsanto. Google for "corporate welfare".
Unfortunately, just because a company uses government grants doesn't mean that the tax-payer will see any benefit.
They don't drive by, they drop a round-up bomb, which effects a 30 metre area, from a small plane. Time for farmers to buy laser pointers.
We have a voice recognition IVR. Any utterances not recognised are recorded for a human to decypher and tell the system what it means, so the IVR is learning. Your Turing test would have been amusement for the person with that job.
Two words: Fuck You!
As a CSR I am sick of dealing with customers like you - I bend over backwards trying to resolve issues that are not of my making - usually caused by non-customer-facing people in other departmants like marketing or provisioning and I'm the guy that has to deal with all your crap that you feel you need to take out on me because I happen to be the first person in this company you come across. Fuck you! I'm sick of it.
Next time, take a deep breath, explain your problem calmly and you'll be surprised how helpful I'll be. Come on the phone spitting tacks and I'll just think you're a putz and I won't go out of my way for you. </rant>
Then again, it might have been. The mute button on the plantronics box beside me right now stops working when the batteries are low.
f I wanted to listen to a call that was recorded at my company I just go get the dat tape, load it, search and retrieve the call
Takes a mere 10 to 15 minutes
Your company obviously doesn't have a 100+ seat call centre handling over 30k calls per day. And that's just in a small country like New Zealand. Over in America and Europe I hear they have 500+ seat call centres taking 100k+ calls per day.
or even keep archives for more than a few months!
or even a few weeks. When I did this for a living, un-evaluated calls had to be deleted weekly or we would run out of disk space. We kept the evaluated calls long enough for training issues to be addressed, agents to challenge their score, etc.
What the article doesn't state, is that we can also see what was on the agent's screen during the call.
:-)
That includes browser windows, emails etc.
I worked in the same building as the people I was monitoring, the team of monitors knew who was bonking who and all the goss because of emails that agents sent to each other during calls. To be honest, I usually didn't want to know and tried to ignore the goss and focus on the customer interaction (after marking the agent down for sending/reading personal emails when they should have been giving undivided attention to the customer - they should've left personal emails to between calls).
Now I'm back on the phones (at another call centre) and I'll get pinged for typing this
Voluntary workers are more productive than forced labour (slavery). Aid workers helping tsunami victims are not slaves, even the ones who don't get paid (i.e. are supporting themselves by other means). People do stuff without tangible reward because they have philanthropic urges. Because they are nice.
[1] That's Elementary in some countries.
I would go further to say that software is a service, not a product. That's the new paradigm.
BTW, what's the difference between RCD and GFCI?
Those goofy Westerns who cant even figure out how to use a non-western toilet in the rest of the world!
When in Rome, poo as romans poo.
I could not believe how stupid people were with home computers.
:-)
I can. I work in a call centre for an ISP.
Was I the only one that actually set my clock ahead to see if anything would go wrong?
Perhaps you and I were the only two
Home PCs were not the problem. Financial institutions were the most vulnerable. Home lenders noticed the problem in the mid 1970s when the projected 25 year mortgages past 2000.
the metric prefix "kilo" (which stems from Latin, I assume?)
Greek.
I'm pretty sure there's a "y" in spanish. What's the spanish word for "and"?