[ShadowAce]

While I know a whopping lot about computers if I had a problem with my cars EFI system I wouldn't have a clue if it was a problem of programming, manufacturing, a failing component or lack of user maintenance or even a bit of user abuse...

Exactly. Now imagine if that EFI computer had a keyboard and screen so that the average driver can affect it.

That doesn't make me a barnyard animal,...

No, it does not. It merely means you are untrained. Not a bad thing.

... it's what happens with complex systems and especially ones that allows the user to really screw it up, a basic premise of the whole "personal" computing movement.

Exactly my point--and the point of the article. Computers are not appliances. They are complex machines that should not have untrained people running them, changing them, or affecting the operation in any way.

As for all the wags that moan about poor computer operating systems it sounds to me that you think that the market is right for a good one. Excellent, go write one.

Don't need to. First, untrained people should quit modifying their computers without supervision. Second, there already is a superior OS out there. :)

[microgood]

Exactly my point--and the point of the article. Computers are not appliances. They are complex machines that should not have untrained people running them, changing them, or affecting the operation in any way.

The point of the article is that the author is a superior being that we should all worship.

As far as computers go, the purpose of the operating system is to make the complex machine usable by people. Just like you do not want to have to tell your engine how much fuel to inject into the pistons as you are driving your car, you do not want to have to send the signal from your mouse to the computer display. That is why they make operating systems, to make complex operations usable by the consumer. And the most successful operating system in the world at doing that is Windows.

[tubebender]

Computers are not appliances. They are complex machines that should not have untrained people running them, changing them, or affecting the operation in any way.

Well there goes 50% of the market.

[FLAMING DEATH]

Survival of the fittest.

As far back as 2002, I built Mom a computer and put Windows XP on it, because that’s what she was used to. She still calls with computer issues on her Windows 7 laptop.

“What did you do?” I say.

“I downloaded some games and now they won’t uninstall and I keep getting pop-ups”.

“Hmmm...shouldn’t have downloaded games, huh?”

You have to realize, this is after 4138 episodes of Mom calling me with problems after I’ve told her not to do such dangerous things. I keep telling her to try Ubuntu, but she says she’s too old to learn something new. But, it’s not that hard...my wife and my son both use it without problems.

I told her to call Geek Squad. I simply can’t keep up with all the problems.

A few years back, I got him an old laptop and put Puppy Linux on it. Dad never calls with problems.