The basic argument of the article is that due to "techies" being analytical and "users" being intuitive that the techie is not anticipating what the user needs. Maybe this seems to be the case from the perspective of the perplexed user, but it quite simply is not so. How many young children are near experts with their family computers while their parents haven't a clue. The fact of the matter is that most computer technology, including most software, is quite intuitive. Otherwise children would not have such an easy time picking it up without any training. The problem lies in how the "users" have trained themselves. As we grow up, the technology of the time is introduced to us and we implicitly trust it, and learn to understand it. But most people do not do the same thing with technology that develops as we grow older. How many of us have grandparents that can not set the clock on a VCR? The users just need to learn to trust the technology and learn how to interface with it. They are probably never going to understand the underlying technology, and noone should expect them to. Just as I am never going to get into the particulars of in depth news reporting (which this guy sure seems good at), but I obviously can interface with it, ie. read the article.
Slashdot Mirror
The basic argument of the article is that due to "techies" being analytical and "users" being intuitive that the techie is not anticipating what the user needs. Maybe this seems to be the case from the perspective of the perplexed user, but it quite simply is not so. How many young children are near experts with their family computers while their parents haven't a clue. The fact of the matter is that most computer technology, including most software, is quite intuitive. Otherwise children would not have such an easy time picking it up without any training. The problem lies in how the "users" have trained themselves. As we grow up, the technology of the time is introduced to us and we implicitly trust it, and learn to understand it. But most people do not do the same thing with technology that develops as we grow older. How many of us have grandparents that can not set the clock on a VCR? The users just need to learn to trust the technology and learn how to interface with it. They are probably never going to understand the underlying technology, and noone should expect them to. Just as I am never going to get into the particulars of in depth news reporting (which this guy sure seems good at), but I obviously can interface with it, ie. read the article.