Ware Ware Wizardjin

[Curtis Yarvin]

In article <15751 at smoke.brl.mil> gwyn at smoke.brl.mil (Doug Gwyn) writes:
>In article <12535 at pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> kemnitz at gaia.berkeley.edu (Greg Kemnitz) writes:
>>I suppose some of us miss the days of yore when computers were the altars
>>through which the common people worshipped us, rather than being things that
>>the "common people" use to get their work done.  We may look down our noses
>>at those who think a device driver has something to do with auto racing, and
>>for whom the options to IOCTL are not the stuff of mortal feuds, but they are
>>the people who pay our salaries and justify our existence.
>
>Perhaps what many of the old-timers miss most is the expectation that
>people who use computers would know what they are doing.  The idea that
>an arbitrary naive human should be able to properly use a given tool
>without training or understanding is even more wrong for computing than
>it is for other tools (e.g. automobiles, airplanes, guns, power saws).
>I hate to think how much time I've lost trying to help computer users
>who could have been able to help themselves if they had spent even a
>few hours of study before proceeding to mess around with the computer.

I'm a rank newbie compared to you (4 years with unix); but I beg to differ.

My observation is that an _inquisitive_ user can learn to use any software
with a simple user interface and a help facility.  It's true that studying
the manual helps; but I think the problem is the demise (or at least the
outnumberment) of curiosity.  A lot of users fear and loathe the computer,
and want to get their work done while learning as little about it as
possible.  By contrast, the inquisitive user is intrigued by the machine,
and actually enjoys learning.  These stereotypes are of course extreme and
exaggerated, but my point is serious.  As the use of computers has
progressed outside the technical community, the latter have become
outnumbered.  Hence the birth of touchy-feely interfaces, which are not
designed to give the user clean access to the machinery, but rather designed
to shield him (or her) from it.