posted 02-16-2002 17:48            

(ganked from doozer)

posted 02-16-2002 21:02            

A few years ago, my grandmother looked at a keyboard and then asked me how I use it to make words appear on the screen. I started explaining how the data is transmitted up the cable and into the motherboard when she stopped me and asked "But where are the buttons with the words on them?" She thought that there would be a button for every word, somehow, and couldn't believe that a person would type out every letter of every word, one at a time. That's how much we take certain things for granted, as compared to someone who knows nothing at all about computers and how they work

So the next time you're learning to use a new program, just stop and think about how well you're being trained by your computer.

That's a good boy, good doggy.

posted 02-16-2002 21:54            

quote:

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Originally posted by zippy:
A few years ago, my grandmother looked at a keyboard and then asked me how I use it to make words appear on the screen. I started explaining how the data is transmitted up the cable and into the motherboard when she stopped me and asked "But where are the buttons with the words on them?" She thought that there would be a button for every word, somehow, and couldn't believe that a person would type out every letter of every word, one at a time.

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posted 02-17-2002 04:38            

Do we blame the cretins cloning and feeding, who are so inherently stupid (ignorant is a better term, I'll be fair) that they don't know the basic functions of their computer?

Or do we blame the vendors who just assume this is common knowledge?

Having never taken the 'click here to begin' tour, I don't KNOW if it explains multitasking in an understandable way, but I'm assuming probably not.

Why not?

Then again, how many of those cretins just assumed they could wing it, and didn't take the tour? What if it IS there?

It's not like people aren't born with knowledge of computers on a genetic level. This can't be compared in ANY way to learning to tie a shoe, or drive a car, right? Because anyone who is smart enough to give Compaq or Hewlett Packard their money (and then AOL, of course) is smart enough to operate the fool contraption.

Naw.

(Is it just me, or does lack of sleep make Three more lucid? How fucked up is that?)

posted 02-17-2002 06:23            

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but seriusoly, so ive had this old amd k6 233 laptop, my mom has it now, win98, old fucker, a bitch, but it works for inet (email) which is all she needs (but damn i wnated to build her a bitching system so i could order some parts for myself, heh) but anyways

yeah it truely amazes me

1) learning cruve as you get older
2) when someone has NEVER used windows before,and its supposed to be "THAT EASY",,well, its NOT

she has NO idea about forms, entering login/pw. shes not stupid, she just,,,well,,,has never really used a computer before.

Took me a while to accept it, and I still get aggrivated having to tell her how to check her mail.

but this brings up an interesting point.

If she has to literally "learn" how to use windows, couldn't she do the same on linux?

I mean, hell, windows isnt easy when you've never used a computer before.

posted 02-17-2002 07:58            

What's more irritating is, they STILL won't know what the taskbar is for if you show them. Most people simply don't have the analytical ability to organize what they're doing in a hierarchical system, which is basically what ANY computer operating system is theoretically trying to do.

The problem is that, at the root of it, most people think in terms of process rather than analytically. Instead of learning a few simple rules and extrapolating how EVERYTHING within a system works from first learning the basic rules, they learn each and every separate task as a separate process, and glean little to nothing from it with which to apply to other related tasks.

posted 02-17-2002 12:28            

Techies are on average more intelligent than the average person, and so understand how to use a computer more easily than an average person, because they've already exposed themselves to many problems where some sort of a thorough understanding was achieved. They know how to go about organizing a lot of new information to give themselves a comprahensive view of how a computer works.

posted 02-17-2002 14:32            

The rollovers are partly flawed because they're a bastardization of a technology, partly because they're in relative infancy, and partly because the concept comes from the drop-down menu in application menus, which THEMSELVES tend to be flawed in much the same way - if you accidentally move your mouse to the side of the menu, it disappears or brings down the menu to the side, rather than hanging around a bit in a "sticky" fashion.

The absolute worst rollover menus I've ever seen, sadly, are on my own company's intranet page. They have, I shit you not, gaps in between the initial rollover point and the menu items - so if you don't mouse FAST in between the initial point and the first item, the menu vanishes (because you're no longer mouseovering any menu components.)

This is bad enough already - but it's actually even worse, because this is the company's INTRAnet portal - which leads to applications we all have to use eleventy-three times a day - and (this is where it really gets bad) about 95% of the company's computers, even those used exclusively in a desktop role, are laptops.

You got it, boopsy - TOUCH-PADS. You have to mouse extremely quickly and accurately to keep the menu from fizzling on you, WITH A TOUCH PAD.

posted 02-17-2002 14:47            

but i know what your saying

posted 02-17-2002 17:28            

quote:

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A few years ago, my grandmother looked at a keyboard and then asked me how I use it to make words appear on the screen. I started explaining how the data is transmitted up the cable and into the motherboard when she stopped me and asked "But where are the buttons with the words on them?" She thought that there would be a button for every word, somehow, and couldn't believe that a person would type out every letter of every word, one at a time. That's how much we take certain things for granted, as compared to someone who knows nothing at all about computers and how they work

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Yanno, typewriters have been in common use since about 1880 or so, at least a couple of decades before granny was born. And according to this rather interesting page, they went through their "iMac" period (of being offered in bright fruity colors in the hopes that people would therefore want more of them in their houses) in the early 30s.

posted 02-18-2002 03:33            

in response to below: well DUH I am idiot for not realizing... it was automatic anyway

posted 02-18-2002 03:55            

quote:

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Originally posted by upload:
i would like to state that I tried to click the above underlind text.

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And I would like to call you an idjut for not realizing it wasn't clickable when you mouseovered.

-3