There is a huge amount of money flowing towards Redmond because people like their products and buy them. Duh.That's the biggest load of crap I've heard in a long time.
Like it or not, most people don't even know there's a choice (despite the media linux gets). Computers pre-loaded with windows still dominate the market... you tell joe-schmoe who walks into any BestBuy, CompUSA, or CircuitCity or calls Gateway or any of those other bloated monsters that he doesn't have to use that OS and he'll say "OS? What's an OS?"
Money flows to Redmond because people are given the shaft from the getgo. This has nothing to do with liking their products, it has to do with not knowing any better.
At this point in time moreso than ever before, you can do practically everything you could do with windows on Linux. Applications are widely available for the win-converts to create/edit/etc the same files they would be creating/editing/etc on a winbox with practically 100% compatibility. Photoshop users? Use Gimp. M$ Office users? Use StarOffice5.2... these are just a couple of examples. If there are incompatibily issues for multimedia [ms twisting mpeg4 into asf], then know it is because the money-grubbing beast is trying to assert market-share based on the fact it is distributed on all the boxes the cattle are consuming. If they will use the format, then *bang* it is somehow supposed to be the acceptable standard. OpenSource is the only reason that cash-flow has a limit. People like you, and I, and thousands of others donate our skill and our talent in order to create a free computing alternative just as strong or stronger, just as viable or better than the one they would make you pay for.
Hell, I should know. I dual-booted between OSes for 4 years to maximize my computer's potential... now I don't bother. It's a linux box.
Consumer behaviour drives the Economy... but consumers must take some responsibility for their purchases. CAVEAT EMPTOR.
RTFM ~ why? Because not everyone has the same knowledge base. Because while one person may intuitively figure out every little part of a product, another may not have a clue. If you didn't create it, there will be at least some level of functionality you are not familiar with.
Companies creating and distributing products (software, refrigerators, lightbulbs, dryers, etc) have fundamental differences. (ie most, if not all, lightbulb manufacturers do not have people on the line to tell you to turn the bulb clockwise to screw it in). If you do not know how to use one of these items and cannot just figure it out, what do you do? Ask someone a question, right? Is it intuitive to remove the lint from the dryer lint-tray, or are we educated on the procedure at some point? Everything on the user end depends on some type of education, whether by self, example, or documentation. Maybe other people have asked the same type of questions, and maybe these Q&A's have been collected somewhere... like the troubleshooting portion of the Manual. Or perhaps you would like to do something in particular with a piece of merchandise, like plot a graph or set the time on your new talking watch... where would those instructions be? Perhaps in the Manual. RTFM.
<sarcasm>"Damn that Timex company, how should I have known you have to pull the watch dial out half-way to set the date? They should put a label sticker on that thing!"</sarcasm>
Consumers have the right to go elsewhere. That isn't an issue. The point is that the buyer is responsible for the purchase, not the company that made the product. If support services are supplied by the manufacturer, the support should be step by step based on the problems and the circumstances. Unfortunately, this has to start with "is it plugged in? is the monitor connected to the computer?" because there are people buying things they know nothing about and blame companies for their own ignorance while there is a manual detailing what to do right in front of them. They even put out "Quick-start" instructions now for people that don't touch the manual just to give them some quick insight. That step alone probably saved the need for thousands of support calls. Heaven forbid a consumer might have to crack the manual open and look at the table of contents for 'Assembly Instructions'.
Ease of use is subjective. For those willing to learn why and how something operates, the device-type familiarity and intuitive factor grows. For those who are not, they should consider things more wisely before they make a purchase. If you don't have electricity, why buy a lightbulb? If you don't know you bought a two-sided puzzle with different pictures on each side and can't seem to put it together, is it your fault? Of course, you bought it and didn't read the box.
If one cannot achieve a desired end using a software product, one must either learn how to achieve the results (ie read the documentation) or use a different piece of software. If a particular piece of software is easier to use, or is cheaper, it will be more widely implemented by consumers [be it by their personal choice or the choice of the company they work for]. The same goes for a lamp, a desk, a dishwasher, or anything else.
The economics of the situation dictate consumer behaviour. If having a stable e-commerce system requires a certain OS or a certain application package, one must weigh whether they desire user simplicity or a strong successful information infrastructure against cost. It may not be interesting to learn about, but if one is willing to drop that kind of investment into a product, one must be willing to take responsibility to see that the product is implemented and utilized properly.
In the final analysis, the end user (of any merchandise) is solely responsible for implementation and proper operation. Economics may play in this area, but don't believe that companies are responsible for our actions just because we give them our money. We make the choice, whether or not we know what to do from there is up to us.
RTFM is a way of life because not everyone has the same technology background, not because companies make products that require a time investment. Documentation has nothing to do with poor design. Documentation is the collected operational information regarding the product. If you can't use your toaster because it's just too complex, get a simpler toaster. If you can't use a computer because you won't take the time to learn how, don't use the computer. If your dryer breaks because you didn't know to empty the lint-tray, maybe you shouldn't own a dryer. How were you supposed to know? RTFM.
It is a consumer market, and the educated consumer will always be able to do more with a product than the uneducated consumer. How do you know which company's product you should buy? Consumer Reports might help... but that would require tedious reading. Perhaps some other form of research... no, wait, that would consume time. Maybe the preferred method is to buy and return over and over again until one finds just the right match for one's understanding abilities.
Sometimes it isn't all about the pricetag and intuitive usablility. It is always about a means to a end. If a inferior cheaper product is all you need, that is what you will get. If a superior, more expensive, more complicated product is what you need, then that is what you will get.
When you sell stuff to consumers, it should work when it's plugged in and it should be obvious how to use it.
I've returned consumer devices that required reading the manual: it's a sign of poor design and poor value.
Why do you have a computer?
It is ridiculous to say that everything a consumer picks up should be easy to use without reading a manual. That's a dreamworld mentality for people who don't believe they should ever have to learn anything.
Now we have to put out substandard merchandise with tons of overhead costs to ensure that John Q. Public can figure out how to do complex tasks without any knowledge whatsoever. Don't slow down technology!
If you aren't willing to pick up the manual, to have any idea of how to actually operate the merchandise, and expect that the world should revolve around you, then you become part of the problem.
That's the justification of the users to not read manuals ~ 'I shouldn't have to read a manual, I just paid $xxx for this merchandise!' If you purchased nuclear waste and were contaminated because you didn't read the documents on properly shielding yourself from radiation, who is at fault? The person who sold the waste, or you?
It is the responsibility of the consumer to be educated when living in the consumer market. In the case of @Home service, it is the consumer's right to this type of information. The OS's aren't tricky, and the providers of the service should have a checklist to go through step by step to determine if the system is set up correctly. If they cannot provide consumers with the service they claim to provide, then they should not be in the business. In a consumer market, this is the only way they should be able to survive.
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Like it or not, most people don't even know there's a choice (despite the media linux gets). Computers pre-loaded with windows still dominate the market... you tell joe-schmoe who walks into any BestBuy, CompUSA, or CircuitCity or calls Gateway or any of those other bloated monsters that he doesn't have to use that OS and he'll say "OS? What's an OS?"
Money flows to Redmond because people are given the shaft from the getgo. This has nothing to do with liking their products, it has to do with not knowing any better.
At this point in time moreso than ever before, you can do practically everything you could do with windows on Linux. Applications are widely available for the win-converts to create/edit/etc the same files they would be creating/editing/etc on a winbox with practically 100% compatibility. Photoshop users? Use Gimp. M$ Office users? Use StarOffice5.2 ... these are just a couple of examples. If there are incompatibily issues for multimedia [ms twisting mpeg4 into asf], then know it is because the money-grubbing beast is trying to assert market-share based on the fact it is distributed on all the boxes the cattle are consuming. If they will use the format, then *bang* it is somehow supposed to be the acceptable standard. OpenSource is the only reason that cash-flow has a limit. People like you, and I, and thousands of others donate our skill and our talent in order to create a free computing alternative just as strong or stronger, just as viable or better than the one they would make you pay for.
Hell, I should know. I dual-booted between OSes for 4 years to maximize my computer's potential... now I don't bother. It's a linux box.
Mental Illness is the Road to Freedom!
I could clear my entire cd rack by pressing my collection to one of these?... well, let's be honest... maybe two of these :) :) :)
RTFM ~ why? Because not everyone has the same knowledge base. Because while one person may intuitively figure out every little part of a product, another may not have a clue. If you didn't create it, there will be at least some level of functionality you are not familiar with.
Companies creating and distributing products (software, refrigerators, lightbulbs, dryers, etc) have fundamental differences. (ie most, if not all, lightbulb manufacturers do not have people on the line to tell you to turn the bulb clockwise to screw it in). If you do not know how to use one of these items and cannot just figure it out, what do you do? Ask someone a question, right? Is it intuitive to remove the lint from the dryer lint-tray, or are we educated on the procedure at some point? Everything on the user end depends on some type of education, whether by self, example, or documentation. Maybe other people have asked the same type of questions, and maybe these Q&A's have been collected somewhere... like the troubleshooting portion of the Manual. Or perhaps you would like to do something in particular with a piece of merchandise, like plot a graph or set the time on your new talking watch... where would those instructions be? Perhaps in the Manual. RTFM.
<sarcasm>"Damn that Timex company, how should I have known you have to pull the watch dial out half-way to set the date? They should put a label sticker on that thing!"</sarcasm>
Consumers have the right to go elsewhere. That isn't an issue. The point is that the buyer is responsible for the purchase, not the company that made the product. If support services are supplied by the manufacturer, the support should be step by step based on the problems and the circumstances. Unfortunately, this has to start with "is it plugged in? is the monitor connected to the computer?" because there are people buying things they know nothing about and blame companies for their own ignorance while there is a manual detailing what to do right in front of them. They even put out "Quick-start" instructions now for people that don't touch the manual just to give them some quick insight. That step alone probably saved the need for thousands of support calls. Heaven forbid a consumer might have to crack the manual open and look at the table of contents for 'Assembly Instructions'.
Ease of use is subjective. For those willing to learn why and how something operates, the device-type familiarity and intuitive factor grows. For those who are not, they should consider things more wisely before they make a purchase. If you don't have electricity, why buy a lightbulb? If you don't know you bought a two-sided puzzle with different pictures on each side and can't seem to put it together, is it your fault? Of course, you bought it and didn't read the box.
If one cannot achieve a desired end using a software product, one must either learn how to achieve the results (ie read the documentation) or use a different piece of software. If a particular piece of software is easier to use, or is cheaper, it will be more widely implemented by consumers [be it by their personal choice or the choice of the company they work for]. The same goes for a lamp, a desk, a dishwasher, or anything else.
The economics of the situation dictate consumer behaviour. If having a stable e-commerce system requires a certain OS or a certain application package, one must weigh whether they desire user simplicity or a strong successful information infrastructure against cost. It may not be interesting to learn about, but if one is willing to drop that kind of investment into a product, one must be willing to take responsibility to see that the product is implemented and utilized properly.
In the final analysis, the end user (of any merchandise) is solely responsible for implementation and proper operation. Economics may play in this area, but don't believe that companies are responsible for our actions just because we give them our money. We make the choice, whether or not we know what to do from there is up to us.
RTFM is a way of life because not everyone has the same technology background, not because companies make products that require a time investment. Documentation has nothing to do with poor design. Documentation is the collected operational information regarding the product. If you can't use your toaster because it's just too complex, get a simpler toaster. If you can't use a computer because you won't take the time to learn how, don't use the computer. If your dryer breaks because you didn't know to empty the lint-tray, maybe you shouldn't own a dryer. How were you supposed to know? RTFM.
It is a consumer market, and the educated consumer will always be able to do more with a product than the uneducated consumer. How do you know which company's product you should buy? Consumer Reports might help... but that would require tedious reading. Perhaps some other form of research... no, wait, that would consume time. Maybe the preferred method is to buy and return over and over again until one finds just the right match for one's understanding abilities.
Sometimes it isn't all about the pricetag and intuitive usablility. It is always about a means to a end. If a inferior cheaper product is all you need, that is what you will get. If a superior, more expensive, more complicated product is what you need, then that is what you will get.
I've returned consumer devices that required reading the manual: it's a sign of poor design and poor value.
Why do you have a computer?
It is ridiculous to say that everything a consumer picks up should be easy to use without reading a manual. That's a dreamworld mentality for people who don't believe they should ever have to learn anything.
Now we have to put out substandard merchandise with tons of overhead costs to ensure that John Q. Public can figure out how to do complex tasks without any knowledge whatsoever. Don't slow down technology!
If you aren't willing to pick up the manual, to have any idea of how to actually operate the merchandise, and expect that the world should revolve around you, then you become part of the problem.
That's the justification of the users to not read manuals ~ 'I shouldn't have to read a manual, I just paid $xxx for this merchandise!' If you purchased nuclear waste and were contaminated because you didn't read the documents on properly shielding yourself from radiation, who is at fault? The person who sold the waste, or you?
It is the responsibility of the consumer to be educated when living in the consumer market. In the case of @Home service, it is the consumer's right to this type of information. The OS's aren't tricky, and the providers of the service should have a checklist to go through step by step to determine if the system is set up correctly. If they cannot provide consumers with the service they claim to provide, then they should not be in the business. In a consumer market, this is the only way they should be able to survive.