It’s easy to pontificate about what computer users do and do not need, but nothing beats the real world when it comes to providing an education. I got mine many years ago, when I worked in tech support for a software company. One day, two old ladies working at a garbage dump in Washington, DC asked me to solve a major problem they were having. The problem turned out to be a loose ISA card, but to discover this the two ladies had to first open their computer. These women were not only oblivious to the operating system they were using (Dell Unix, believe it or not), they didn’t even know you could open a computer. Still, they happily followed my instructions and removed cables, screws, and casing parts to fix this basic bug. They were great; I’ve worked with doctors who had much less patience than these two.
It’s easy to pontificate about what computer users do and do not need, but nothing beats the real world when it comes to providing an education. I got mine many years ago, when I worked in tech support for a software company. One day, two old ladies working at a garbage dump in Washington, DC asked me to solve a major problem they were having. The problem turned out to be a loose ISA card, but to discover this the two ladies had to first open their computer. These women were not only oblivious to the operating system they were using (Dell Unix, believe it or not), they didn’t even know you could open a computer. Still, they happily followed my instructions and removed cables, screws, and casing parts to fix this basic bug. They were great; I’ve worked with doctors who had much less patience than these two.
In no time, their system was up and running. The lesson: It is personality, not just technical expertise that solves the problem. And a desktop is a very personable place in the Linux world. Users are not dumb. They are not fearful of their computers. When we talk about what the typical user does or does not want, we should give…
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