Ravn's Rants and Ravings |
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| Author:
| ravn
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| Submitted: |
19-Dec-2005 20:43:08 |
| Imported From: |
zZine (original author: ravn)
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| I'm going to start off with a warning. I am going to, as the title suggests, rant and rave in this column. I'm probably going to upset some people with what I say, but frankly I don't care. Upsetting people is fun.
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I'm going to start off with a warning. I am going to, as the title suggests, rant and rave in this column. I'm probably going to upset some people with what I say, but frankly I don't care. Upsetting people is fun. Besides, I wouldn't be saying it if I didn't think it was the truth. I know what I say may sound snobbish and elitist, because that's what it is. Consider yourself warned.
Let me start out with a simple statement. I believe that there are some people in the world who should not be allowed to use a computer. No, I don't mean "hackers" (crackers, script kiddies, whatever). I mean a very large portion of the world's population. It is time to face facts folks: some people are just too dumb to use a computer. I don't mean that they're stupid in general because I know many bright individuals who should never be allowed anywhere near a computer. These people simply lack some basic brain functions that allow other people to use a computer properly. These are the people who think to themselves "My computer says my hard drive is full, so I'll just go into the Windows directory and delete everything to clear up some space!" You know the ones, those who don't understand that deleting an icon from their desktop doesn't uninstall the program.
But can't they be taught? Isn't there something we can do to help these folks out? Isn't this just due to lack of experience? No. Okay, so when people are new to computers, this stuff can happen, and they can have things explained. They learn, and understand, and become perfectly able computer users. However, most people are not like this. They're simply unable to grasp the necessary concepts, and no amount of teaching/coaching/complaining is ever going to make it better. Believe me, I know, I've TRIED. I have spent more time teaching folks how to use computers than I care to think about. I am the guy that goes to the really hopeless people and makes them see. There are some people that are beyond help, it's just a fact so get used to the idea. Thankfully though, this will be less and less of a problem in the future, as people grow up and learn with computers in their everyday life (Well... maybe, I'll get into that a little later).
Okay, so people are hopeless. So what? Why is it a problem? Why should we care? Well, frankly, we have to care because of a little company called Microsoft (Apple takes a share of the blame here too, and so does AOL). Computers are EASY to use. I don't care what users claim/complain about, today's personal computers are dead simple. I can train a monkey to surf the net and send emails. Thanks to Microsoft and company, computers are so simple that even the most brain-dead people are getting them, and jumping online. This means broken computers, viruses, adware, and a lifetime of headaches for the computer guys and girls of the world. Okay, so it does keep a lot of us employed, but really! "Uncle Bob" does NOT need some ultra-fancy computer with AOL. He needs a telephone and some stationary. It wouldn't be so bad if these users realized that they are incompetent with these foreign machines. At least then they'd probably be more careful or wary, but alas they are not! They go around sending emails with huge images that play music, they open every attachment they get, and they reply to spam emails and Nigerian scammers. The worst part is they don't even care about it!
You see the computer is a tool to make their life simpler. They want to send emails and buy stuff from eBay and all that jazz. They expect it to never ever break (apparently the computer should be far more perfect than their car). You would think then that they would CARE when they break it, but they don't. Sure, they get upset (extremely upset in many cases) but they just call up their nearest techie relative and make them come over and fix it, while complaining about the infernal machine being broken. No matter how many times you explain how it broke, and how they can prevent it in the future, they ignore you, and go right on ahead as normal. Their computer breaking is not, and cannot be their fault in any way. It would be like driving the car, and not putting any gas in it... then getting upset when you were stuck on the side of the sitting on empty! Folks if you're going to use a computer, for your own sake PLEASE learn how to use it first, PLEASE - and if you can't learn, accept it!
But there IS a solution here, an answer! How many clueless users were there back when everything was text-based and complicated? Not nearly as many as there are today. This is the answer! No, not going back to text-based stuff (I certainly don't want that - despite my love for Linux). We need to make computers hard to use again! Not excessively so, mind you, but just enough to keep the average folk out. I thought Linux would be the answer to our problem here. It is hard enough to use that most people can't use it (it does require being able to rub at least a couple brain cells together), and it has active geek support. What could be better? Unfortunately, even Linux is getting easier and easier to use by the day. Pretty soon even THAT won't be a safe haven.
So I guess I lied, there is no solution. Sure we could build another cool new Operating System... maybe even make our OWN internet, just to get away from this insanity. But it wouldn't help in the end. Eventually, someone would come along and make THAT easy too, and we'd be right back where we started... but a guy can dream, right?
Author: ravn
This article was originally published by CyberArmy.net in the CyberArmy Library.
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