Posted on 08/18/2009 4:50:05 PM PDT by Star Traveler
A TidBITS article from Adam Engst...
I recently saw a sign on a vehicle in a parade that said something like;
“Find us by searching for [the_company_name].com on google.”
apparently not realizing that by giving their URL they already gave people all they needed to know to find them.
I’m just a dabbler, but know enough to help out friends and family that cannot communicate with tech support because of the langauge barrier from overseas tech support. Also as a former IT coordinator, I witnessed new applications’ classes being taught to employees in a very inappropriate manner - very techy and lots of IT jargon that laymen cannot comprehend. Everytime I would have to retrain the employees on the new applications because the software rep was an a@@.
funny.... :-)
I used to teach classes for the Macintosh at a Senior Center in Oregon, and I would definitely teach basic stuff and ideas without using the techy and IT jargon, too. I must have done it okay (in accomplishing that) because I always got rave reviews from those old coots... LOL...
Now, I’m one of them, too... :-)
This explains how DUmmies manage to get to their site
Like Biden referring to a web site address: “What’s the web number?” Idiot.
“Now, I’m one of them, too... :-)”
That must mean we are the lucky ones! Got to love the old saying “there’s only one alternative to aging.”
I’ll tell you a big part of it is a lot of people cannot communicate. They have a poor vocabulary and are not used to using their brains to observe and figure something out. They are unable to express themselves and describe a problem, and conversely are unable to understand the solution.
And the generations of dummies are not passing on any information to their children.
My favorite latest example was the young mother I overheard in Walmart who was unable to explain to her daughter why you aren’t supposed to drink mouthwash.
Spare me another rant from a geeky technical writer. (I’m a tech writer, and I hear the same whining from co-workers all the time.)
Computer apps should be intuitive and transparent to users. People shouldn’t have to wade through steaming mounds of text or useless online help to figure out how to use a “graphical user interface.” Why should I have to parse a multi-page procedure when you could show me in a short screencam?
I used to teach computer apps, programming (Logo, Basic, and Pascal), and robotics to elementary/high school kids. He wants to teach something as abstract as networking to little kids? No. They’re better off playing outside.
You must not be familiar with Macintosh users then... :-)
A badge of honor with Macintosh Users, from my long experience with them, is how little they ever used a manual to figure out how to use the programs and operating system of the Macintosh computer, because of its excellent User Interface and the guidelines that Apple published for all its developers to follow...
I swear... I remember guys saying that they had never so much as ever opened a manual about the Macintosh Computer or any of its software — ever... LOL...
Now, that’s a good “User Interface” to be sure... :-)
for sure... :-)
I agree. If corporate IT departments bought Macs instead of PCs, lots of tech writers would be out of work!
It’s an animal that eats trees and shrubs.
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
In case others don’t know...
Internet publication
TidBITS has been published weekly since April 16, 1990, which makes it one of the longest running Internet publications. TidBITS is published by Adam C. Engst, author of a number of computer books, including four editions of Internet Starter Kit for Macintosh, Eudora for Windows & Macintosh Visual Quickstart Guide, and five editions of iPhoto for Mac OS X: Visual QuickStart Guide.
Electronic books
TidBITS also publishes a series of electronic books in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format that cover issues related to Mac OS X and the digital lifestyle. The “Take Control” series first appeared in October 2003 with the publication of Take Control of Upgrading to Panther which was issued at the same moment as the official launch of Mac OS X version 10.3 “Panther”.
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TidBITS ]
And I’ve subscribed to their mailing list almost from the beginning. And I remember getting Adam Engst’s “Internet Starter Kit for Macintosh” when it wasn’t necessarily so easy getting on the Internet... :-)
I remember the one for Eudora, too. That was a favorite e-mail program of mine for a very long time. And then, I’ve got a series of the “Take Control” e-books put out by Adam Engst, too.
Practically all of what he has written there is very true. I had to laugh at the characterization of “teenagers” in the past and then “now”... That was right, in the past, if you wanted a computer fixed or tweaked or help with it — yeah..., “get a teenager”. But, nowadays, the teenagers have to get help from the older folks... LOL...
Heck, when I was a teenager, I was programming those new-fangled things in Base 2, with no monitor and only red lights for read-outs for Base 2 indications of on/off and paper tape to save the programming. I had to program everything, down to even telling it how to multiply and divide... Assembly language... ummm..., *I was the assembler*... LOL...
Assembly language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_language
And so, these youngsters are getting quite computer illiterate these days. And a good User Interface is great (I believe in it), but it has probably contributed to the “dumbing down” of the average computer user, to the point where you get those kinds of “tech support” calls, as was indicated in that article.
I like the Mac OS X, because it can be as simple as you want — and then — as complex as you want, both at the same time and accommodating both kinds of people. That’s great. But, alas, there is a large group out there that have absolutely no clue as to what is going on... :-)
Hey, are you sure you haven't stolen my memories???
Those were the days my friend. We thought they’d never end... :-)
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