[TheForge] Geeks with anvils-YAK

[Phlip]

Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...

> Nothing personal, I know that computer jargon can be confusing and seem
> complicated, largely because computers ARE complicated. But honestly, one
hears
> this complaint all the time and I gotta say that while I know nothing
about
> airplanes,  if I suddenly decided I wanted to buy one I'd go down to
Borders and
> buy a couple of magazines and some books about airplanes and READ them.
That
> way I could understand A. What I really wanted and needed and B. what the
> salesman was talking about. I just don't think that walking into Boeing
and asking
> for  "a fast one" would get me very far. Heck, I wouldn't try to buy a
tennis
> racket or a pair of skis without reading enough to understand the current
> terminology . . .

Thing is, everybody (now) has them, and the general thought is that if my
kid has one and can use it, I can too. Further, with a computer you're
unlikely to fall out of the sky, as with an airplane, or fall off a
mountain, as with skis. The worst you're likely to do is frustrate yourself
unmercifully- and none of the manuals say much at all about the REAL dangers
of the 'Net, such as identity theft, unlimited shopping and timewasting ;-)

WQith an automobile, you at least need a driver's license, and that usually
requires looking through a manual. With a computer, the impression is that
you plug it in and go.

I'm not saying it's right, but when was the last time you read the
instructions on your new toaster? Most people don't, which is why we get
these idjits misusing and abusing all sorts of equipment, then suing the
manufacturer. And, why we have war stories like that particular page
presents.

The thing is, most people don't unbderstand the basic concept of a computer-
it does EXACTLY what you tell it to. Further, it comes in a bewildering
variety of parts, with several variants of each type. An automobile at least
is all put together when you get it, as are airplanes, so you KNOW you need
the wheels and the wings and the engine and the windshield and whatever
else. You don't necessarily know that with a computer.

Now, I had done some research- I knew I wanted a PC rather than a Mac
because of the greater availability of software, and I knew I wanted the
fastest possible computer with as much memory as I could get, having
upgraded the TRS 80 twice. But, having upgraded fro 4 to 8 to 16 kb of
memory, I wasn't quite prepared to be talking megs, and having saved my
programs on cassetees, I wasn't quite prepared to deal with hard drives-
Hel, Windoze 3.1 was a miracle, after the hours I'd spent typing stuff in to
get the simplest program to run, and this kid yapping away at me at 90 mph
wasn't giving me a clue as to what was available. He "won"- he intimidated
me enough that I walked right out of that store and bought from someone
else, who DID take the time to explain what was available.

In closing, a story about earlier computers.

Good Samaritan Hospital had just gotten a new computer, and set up all their
records on it, to make it easier to locate patients and their records and
the like. My computer buddy, Father Lee, went down to the computer room and
get trained by the geek in charge to use it so he could track his pts more
easily- not only was he properly trained on that computer, but he had his
own TRS 80, that he was quite familiar with. Sister Mary Karl, the head of
the Chaplain's Dept proceeded to raise blazes because he was using the
computer and she wasn't, so they said that she could use it too, as soon as
she got trained, She took the training, then, as soon as she was allowed on
the computer, decided she didn't like the way the information was arranged,
and decided to do it her way. As you can imagine, she screwed up the records
so badly that the machine had to be shut down for a week to straighten them
all out...

Saint Phlip,
CoD

"When in doubt, heat it up and hit it with a hammer."
 Blacksmith's credo.

 If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
cat.

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....



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