VMesS vs Unix Debate

[SMH at SRI-KL.ARPA]

From:  "Scott M. Hinnrichs" <SMH at SRI-KL.ARPA>

RE:  "User-Friendly" systems

	People are always looking for reasons to keep from having to
learn new things (read: "do work").  "User-Friendliness" is just another
bastion of defense against having to do work.  Another free lunch myth.
	My favorite ploy to get someone past this barrier and onto learning,
and eventually doing, is to get them to realize this themselves.
	One comment I get occasionally from people is that in order to
use UNIX they really have to know what they are doing.  Wow. That is bad
enough, but I go one step further and ask them about the system
they are currently using:

	Q.  "Didn't it take time to learn the system you are using now?"

	A.  "Well, yes, but I don't know much about that system either."

"User-Friendliness"  <-->  "User-Laziness"

	The fact of the matter is that anything worth doing is going to
take time and pain, and most people are not willing to go to the lengths
necessary to attain their goals.
	When someone is confronted with the hurdle of learning how to work
with a new tool it helps to address their cries of "User-Unfriendliness" by
helping them to see the overall picture.
	The greatest hurdle is their fear of the nebulous unknown.
In-other-words you have to kill the boogie-man created by all the
wonderful hearsay spread about computers, UNIX, etc.
	Once you get them through all their preliminary fears they can
start learning.  The time spent learning is really quite minimal.  The
real time sink is convincing them to learn.
	It is quite rewarding to see someone who was incredibly biased
against what you are teaching cut through the BS and see things clearly.
They even seem to have fun, after-a-fashion.
	As far as "User-Friendliness" is concerned they tend to spout that
phrase less and less as time goes by.  However, you still hear it from
them occasionally; whenever they don't understand what they are doing.

	These comments are as much for me as they are for you.  I am
about to start teaching another round of UNIX classes here at SRI and
I am convincing myself it's worth the effort to take the time to
teach, just the same as I have to convince them it's worth the effort
to take the time to learn.

	Here's to a "User-Friendly" life!

Scott M. Hinnrichs
SRI International
sri-unix!smh, smh at sri-unix
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