Personally, I'm a science geek, not a computer geek. I can generally figure out how to get an OS or program to do what I want it to do, and I would like to use Linux...but learning the commands is just not that interesting to me. A couple of my computer geek friends almost talked me into putting Linux on my new Thinkpad, but the reliance on the CLI is what really changed my mind from "yeah, I should use Linux because of all the problems with windows, and this that and the other reasons too" to "maybe later, when I have the time and inclination to learn all those commands."
Plopping down a user at a Linux terminal and having them learn how to use a shell a little here or there is a very good thing.
Most users couldn't care less about how to use a shell. If a user wants to, they can, but if they don't, they will choose an OS that doesn't require them to. Most people are in that category.
Hopefully, they may have an idea of what computers once used to be, fully command-line driven with no GUI whatsoever.
What computers used to be is at best uninteresting to most users and therefore irrelevent.
Computers are tools to most people, not so much like toasters and fridges but more like cars. You take care of them and they take care of you. Just as people don't want to spend a lot of time getting maintenance done on their cars, they want to have to think about it as little as possible and use their computer for the applications it runs.
Can someone explain why NASA was so concerned about contaminating Europa that they smashed a spacecraft into Jupiter that could otherwise have lasted a lot longer, but where Titan is concerned no one seems to think about contamination?
I'm guessing at least some of the inability to recognize when one makes a mistake could be due to our PC standards in the education system. If no one tells you when your conclusion is wrong, you might just go on thinking that of course lemon juice on your face will keep you from being recognized on a surveillance tape. Why not?
District 200 in Illinois' policy on correction of spelling errors: "only when appropriate." As if it is sometimes not appropriate to correct spelling. Don't want to make the kids feel bad because they can't spell...
Actually, when I worked at DirecTV's call center we got a lot of calls requesting that the Golf Channel be put on the regular package or otherwise changed so that the customer doesn't have to pay the full $10 for the sports pack. For a while there (they stopped it about the time I started), if customers complained a whole lot they would let them get the Golf Channel for like $5/month. Which is ridiculous as far as I'm concerned--$5/mo for one channel??--but then, I don't watch TV at all.
You might, actually, still be able to get it if you complain to a supervisor long enough. But you didn't hear it from me and don't expect me to compensate you for the necessary time and frustration if it doesn't happen. It really depends on how smart and strong-willed the supervisor is. Or if you get a brand new CSR and act like it's a given that it's available a la carte, they might do it because they don't know any better.
Re a la carte channels, I'd pay $2/channel for the weather and Discovery channels, even though most of the Discovery channels have pretty much gone to shit. I couldn't care less about junkyard wars, I want to watch science.
From two years in a DTV call center, I can say that the contracts they make you sign are because of the cost of the equipment and installation. Or at least that's what supervisors told us. I'm not sure if we were supposed to let the customers know that or not, but it did help them see it from the company's viewpoint when they were pissed cause they couldn't leave.
Granted, it's better for the company if you commit to a year of service, but some of the equipment deals give you three receivers and installation for less than $100. Speaking only in terms of DirecTV giving you the equipment (which they didn't until the tail end of my sentence, er, employment with them which ended two years ago) rather than an outside dealer, that was pretty cheap.
If you're buying your equipment from anybody other than DirecTV (I don't know how Dish does it, what I know is DTV), you signing a contract allows the equipment dealer to get money from DirecTV. The dealer often loses money on the equipment, depending on what special they have going on at the time, but they make it back and then some with the money they get from DTV when you sign the contract.
If you can find a woman who would buy a car with the hood welded shut, I can find a man who would also.
Personally, I don't know anything about cars, but if I can't see the engine that means I can't learn how to fix it. Or y'know...have my dad do it.
Why is it that machines "designed for women," whether by women or not, almost always allow the user to do anything they want to the appearance but absolutely nothing to the substance?
the Volvo concept car remains eminently sensible.
I beg to differ. Welding the hood shut and relying completely on a computer to tell you when something goes wrong is eminently stupid. No, wait. Welding the hood shut and relying on a computer and a system of human beings to tell you when something goes wrong is eminently stupid.
And who is going to go through the trouble of changing the color of their interior?
Looks like the only decent idea is the split in the headrest for ponytails...but I hope they don't make it so that you get your head stuck in the headrest if you get rear-ended too hard.
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Personally, I'm a science geek, not a computer geek. I can generally figure out how to get an OS or program to do what I want it to do, and I would like to use Linux...but learning the commands is just not that interesting to me. A couple of my computer geek friends almost talked me into putting Linux on my new Thinkpad, but the reliance on the CLI is what really changed my mind from "yeah, I should use Linux because of all the problems with windows, and this that and the other reasons too" to "maybe later, when I have the time and inclination to learn all those commands."
Plopping down a user at a Linux terminal and having them learn how to use a shell a little here or there is a very good thing.
Most users couldn't care less about how to use a shell. If a user wants to, they can, but if they don't, they will choose an OS that doesn't require them to. Most people are in that category.
Hopefully, they may have an idea of what computers once used to be, fully command-line driven with no GUI whatsoever.
What computers used to be is at best uninteresting to most users and therefore irrelevent.
Computers are tools to most people, not so much like toasters and fridges but more like cars. You take care of them and they take care of you. Just as people don't want to spend a lot of time getting maintenance done on their cars, they want to have to think about it as little as possible and use their computer for the applications it runs.
Can someone explain why NASA was so concerned about contaminating Europa that they smashed a spacecraft into Jupiter that could otherwise have lasted a lot longer, but where Titan is concerned no one seems to think about contamination?
District 200 in Illinois' policy on correction of spelling errors: "only when appropriate." As if it is sometimes not appropriate to correct spelling. Don't want to make the kids feel bad because they can't spell...
I'm a bisexual woman, dumbfuck.
1. Spelling gay "ghey" doesn't make it any less insulting. You never know who's going to hear or see you use the word--just don't.
2. It's been said, but just to emphasize the point: it's marketing, not feminism.
Sure it could--you'd just have to buy an extra piece: the DLD08 "cable." And when you're done printing, you put it back in the drawer.
And I'm a bisexual woman, so I would know.
Actually, when I worked at DirecTV's call center we got a lot of calls requesting that the Golf Channel be put on the regular package or otherwise changed so that the customer doesn't have to pay the full $10 for the sports pack. For a while there (they stopped it about the time I started), if customers complained a whole lot they would let them get the Golf Channel for like $5/month. Which is ridiculous as far as I'm concerned--$5/mo for one channel??--but then, I don't watch TV at all.
You might, actually, still be able to get it if you complain to a supervisor long enough. But you didn't hear it from me and don't expect me to compensate you for the necessary time and frustration if it doesn't happen. It really depends on how smart and strong-willed the supervisor is. Or if you get a brand new CSR and act like it's a given that it's available a la carte, they might do it because they don't know any better.
Re a la carte channels, I'd pay $2/channel for the weather and Discovery channels, even though most of the Discovery channels have pretty much gone to shit. I couldn't care less about junkyard wars, I want to watch science.
From two years in a DTV call center, I can say that the contracts they make you sign are because of the cost of the equipment and installation. Or at least that's what supervisors told us. I'm not sure if we were supposed to let the customers know that or not, but it did help them see it from the company's viewpoint when they were pissed cause they couldn't leave.
Granted, it's better for the company if you commit to a year of service, but some of the equipment deals give you three receivers and installation for less than $100. Speaking only in terms of DirecTV giving you the equipment (which they didn't until the tail end of my sentence, er, employment with them which ended two years ago) rather than an outside dealer, that was pretty cheap.
If you're buying your equipment from anybody other than DirecTV (I don't know how Dish does it, what I know is DTV), you signing a contract allows the equipment dealer to get money from DirecTV. The dealer often loses money on the equipment, depending on what special they have going on at the time, but they make it back and then some with the money they get from DTV when you sign the contract.
If you can find a woman who would buy a car with the hood welded shut, I can find a man who would also. Personally, I don't know anything about cars, but if I can't see the engine that means I can't learn how to fix it. Or y'know...have my dad do it.
Why is it that machines "designed for women," whether by women or not, almost always allow the user to do anything they want to the appearance but absolutely nothing to the substance? the Volvo concept car remains eminently sensible. I beg to differ. Welding the hood shut and relying completely on a computer to tell you when something goes wrong is eminently stupid. No, wait. Welding the hood shut and relying on a computer and a system of human beings to tell you when something goes wrong is eminently stupid. And who is going to go through the trouble of changing the color of their interior? Looks like the only decent idea is the split in the headrest for ponytails...but I hope they don't make it so that you get your head stuck in the headrest if you get rear-ended too hard.
This is a CONCEPT car for WOMEN. I guarantee you no MAN will buy a car if he can't see the engine.
I guarantee you no INTELLIGENT PERSON will buy a car if they can't see the engine.
Take your sexism and shove it.