Joe Average User Is In Trouble

The Register ^ | 10/27/03 | Scott Granneman

[FreedomPoster]

You know what PCMCIA, the acronym for the older laptop card interface standard, stands for, right?

People Can't Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms.

[Hatteras]

Being a computer weenie, I'll have to agree with you there

Of course I meant "weenie" in the most endearing of terms. :-)

[Semi Civil Servant]

I have used Windows for 12 years. I have never been a Microsoft hater, but I've come to the conclusion that Microsoft is incapable of dealing with security issues. It is also incapable of writing anything but bloated, gigantic code for even the simplest applications.

On the bloated code: I had a word processor, data base, spread sheet (+ some other whistles and bells) running on my ancient Commodore 64 (Berkley Software--can't remember the program name). Not quite true multitasking, but a close simulation of it. That was running on 64 K!

My "multi-tasking" Windows PC runs out of memory (256 megs) all the time! The "Works" word processor must be gigantic. It doesn't like to play with my other programs, either.

Update Windows? Oh, sure. With my dial-up connection it would take days (weeks?) to find and load all the "updates" and patches for the various Microsoft products on my computer.

I sit behind Zone alarm, de-virus, and never open odd looking email.

But the next computer I purchase will be a Mac. Just having a lower profile in the virus wars makes it a smart move for me.

All new Mac software? Sure. Why not? A big chunk of my Windows software is disabled by something another program did to SOMETHING -- don't get me started on that.

The move to Mac will not be Nirvana. But I'm tired of the Windows world's various failings and Microsoft's inability to solve those problems.

I better stop before I get the blue screen of death.

[Fishrrman]

I'm a Mac user -- been one since 1987. I use nothing else.

Never had a virus -- not a single one.

Never had a worm -- not a single one

Never had a trojan -- not a single one

I don't even use "virus protection software". Got tired of scanning and finding nothing there.

Of course, I still get junk email. But I use "POPMonintor" to scan incoming email at the server level, and delete it before I download email to my computer.

What's all the problems with viruses, worms, trojans, etc.?

Cheers!
- John

[Xenalyte]

Oh, my God, someone interviewed Xena's Mom!

[Agnes Heep]

As for teaching computer classes, unfortunately, from my experience, the world seems to be composed of two types of humans: Those who can communicate in clear, simple language, and those who are good at computers.

The same is true for the IT world. Some people want to communicate and some people want to impress you with their wealth of knowledge. Based on my experience, the level of ability is inversely proportional to the extent of the jargon.

[Chief_Joe]

bump

[AppyPappy]

Pretty much gave it all up. I lost interest in it. I've been going strong for 25 years. I went at a spiritual retreat and when I got home, I had lost interest. I went from a quart of scotch a week to nothing.

The most I do now is an occaisonal low-carb beer (they lower the carbs by reducing the alcohol). I couldn't even finish a glass of Chardonnay this weekend. Bleh.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

ping

[cookcounty]

"I'm a Mac user -- been one since 1987. I use nothing else....Never had a virus --Never had a worm -- Never had a trojan -- I don't even use "virus protection software". Got tired of scanning and finding nothing there.

What's all the problems with viruses, worms, trojans, etc.?

Cheers!
- John"

Maybe Mac explains my luck. I AM Joe Average, or more likely, Joe Below-Average. I only use the software that came in the box. In 12 years, I never had a "crash" I'm not quite sure what the term "crash" means. Is it like when you get that occasional freeze-up, and you have to turn the dang thing off and on?

[Kenny Bunk]

Adelphia has evolved to a higher plane of user friendliness thann Time Warner, apparently. The TW folks do, to give them their due, run a fairly heads-up virus patrol. It's just that they have not yet committed to support routers they don't sell. Their marketing plan calls for selling hi-ticket commercial + private service and they want to make money off routers.

[Cronos]

Best bet, buy a Mac and an IBM clone. Partition the clone to run Win and Linux or BSD or your own OS (if you're creative enough)!

[tdadams]

Perhaps 90% of the people I know look at me like I'm an expert, but our IT guys know stuff I have no clue about.

I'm a Unix administrator with many years of experience and I've dealt with hackers who know vulnerabilities that I've never seen nor heard about, including one who made the Unix do things that Unix is specifically NOT (by design) supposed to be able to do.

[E Rocc]

No, but it runs "Hunt The Wumpus" like a champ ;)

It does a nice job on "Defender" too. >:)

-Eric

[E Rocc]

But could it play tic-tac-toe? (or Global Thermonuclear War?)

Not long after War Games came out I programmed a Commodore 64 to simulate a conversation. Impressed the hell out of a very pretty (but not too sharp) woman I was dating, especially when it told me how gorgeous she was....hehehe.

-Eric

[Petronski]

Fortunately they are nice enough to do things like buy me dinner gift certificates to nice restaurants...

I usually accept payment in beer, if at all.

[E Rocc]

I'm a Unix administrator with many years of experience and I've dealt with hackers who know vulnerabilities that I've never seen nor heard about, including one who made the Unix do things that Unix is specifically NOT (by design) supposed to be able to do.

In 1986-87 our computer consultant found a way to export spectrometer data into Lotus 1-2-3 (I took it from there and developed a macro that would take said data and make SPC charts out of it). This after the equipment manufacturer said it couldn't be done. I quit believing anything was truly impossible at that point.

-Eric

[tdadams]

It's not just that Joe Average User is clueless about security. It's that he is clueless about damn near everything.

I'll have to be a cynic and say I agree. How many times do I have to tell the same people who forward me every urban legend they get (and telling me to forward it to everyone in my address book) to go look at Snopes before sending me anything?

And of course, my email address is right there in the open CC: field, so the 200 other credulous dupes can send me every urban legend they get also.

[general_re]

Ah, I'll wait for the TI port of Doom 3 - if you can stand measuring performance in frames-per-month, that is ;)

[Charles Martel]

It does a nice job on "Defender" too. >:)

I just dug my 99/4A out of the garage last week and hooked it up. "Parsec" is still a load of fun (gotta love that add-on voice synthesizer). :-)