A loose series of thoughts and venting on Linux, computers in general and their (ab)users.
Computers for the clueless
Posted 09-05-2008 at 03:07 AM by bitpicker
Hardly a day passes without someone posting a blog or forum post or whatever claiming that either now Linux is so easy a complete newbie with no prior knowledge [usually abbreviated as 'Grandma'] can use it, or the opposite. I won't link to any such post here, you've all seen examples and will continue to see them for all eternity.
Here's some news for the people who write such posts: using a computer to its full potential without prior knowledge and without acquiring relevant knowledge in the process of further learning is impossible. Get over it.
The job or profession you're holding probably required training. You were not allowed to drive a car without making a driver's license first. Apart from breathing there hasn't been a single thing in your life that didn't require any training at all. Why do so many people suppose that using a computer should require no training and no learning effort at all whatsoever?
The computer being the most complex tool ever devised by humans, there is no chance for that. Linux can't do it, and neither can Windows. I've recently had a real grandma ask me how to connect her USB harddisk and her SD cards to a Vista notebook. Was it easy to do? Yes, just put them in, click OK in a dialogue which pops up later, and you're set. It was just as easy as it would have been in Ubuntu, for example. But she was afraid to do it. She did not know whether she would be able to break anything.
So, what she was missing was some basic training. You can't expect to do anything with a computer without any training and without any learning at all. I mean, the very first time you had to use a TV or VCR, did you just push buttons to see what would happen, or did you take a look at the user's guide? Even if you used trial and error, do you still do so or have you learned something in the process?
I suspect that the moment the majority of grandmas in this world manage to work with a Linux-based computer because they have learned anough about it, people will discuss how their dog now is or isn't able to do it.
I really don't understand this learning aversion.
Robin
Here's some news for the people who write such posts: using a computer to its full potential without prior knowledge and without acquiring relevant knowledge in the process of further learning is impossible. Get over it.
The job or profession you're holding probably required training. You were not allowed to drive a car without making a driver's license first. Apart from breathing there hasn't been a single thing in your life that didn't require any training at all. Why do so many people suppose that using a computer should require no training and no learning effort at all whatsoever?
The computer being the most complex tool ever devised by humans, there is no chance for that. Linux can't do it, and neither can Windows. I've recently had a real grandma ask me how to connect her USB harddisk and her SD cards to a Vista notebook. Was it easy to do? Yes, just put them in, click OK in a dialogue which pops up later, and you're set. It was just as easy as it would have been in Ubuntu, for example. But she was afraid to do it. She did not know whether she would be able to break anything.
So, what she was missing was some basic training. You can't expect to do anything with a computer without any training and without any learning at all. I mean, the very first time you had to use a TV or VCR, did you just push buttons to see what would happen, or did you take a look at the user's guide? Even if you used trial and error, do you still do so or have you learned something in the process?
I suspect that the moment the majority of grandmas in this world manage to work with a Linux-based computer because they have learned anough about it, people will discuss how their dog now is or isn't able to do it.
I really don't understand this learning aversion.
Robin
