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More typos
by Jay on Fri 4th Oct 2002 17:39 UTC

Spelled Athlon wrong...proofreading your own stuff, you keep glossing over the same mistakes - I should have had my cats proofread <g>.

Joe & Jane User - i really wasn't trying to be pc, I was thinking of a couple or a family, but it does sound pc, I have to admit.

I too think the vast majority of computer uses are computer illierate in the sense of actually knowing how to set up email, connect to the internet, are dead in the water if something goes wrong. This does bring up a question about computing we've all talked about before - is making computing so transparent to average users dumbing things down too much? I don't think it has to be that. With Linux and OS X I think the advanced user can continue do advanced work. I guess with Windows too if you have the right tools. Linux is still nice in that regard because of OSS, I think there will always be many distros that advanced users will like to use better than what will become mainstream distros.

But, this inability of not knowing how to do anything among average users is a problem, a big problem. In some ways, it makes me wonder why internet appliances have failed so miserably (well, most of them were crappy, that's one reason <g>). But seriously, I do wonder about that because, in so many ways, it is the answer to these people's inability and lack of interest in learning how a computer actually works. I think a product intended for mass consumption should require that the customer not need to know anything, but computers are not there yet - too many things can go wrong. I mean too many things that would put the average user dead in the water until they receive help.