Subj : Re: accent.
To   : Alan Zisman
From : Charles Angelich
Date : Mon Sep 26 2005 01:12 am


123c78525c66
win95



Hello Alan - 

--8<--cut 

AZ> Generalizations are dangerous and almost always incorrect... 

Generally that is correct. 

--8<--cut 

AZ> None of the PC-users had a clue what to do... but I and
AZ> another computer teacher-- primarily a Mac-user, blundered
AZ> along trying the variety of little icons in the system
AZ> tray, until we got them working. 

AZ> Should I conclude 'Typical PC user?' 

Typical _Windows_ PC user yes. Click on everything in sight
until something works or you get the BSOD. :-) 

AZ> The reality is that most computer users-- 

Good to see you are only pointing at "most" and not truly
generalizing here (again). 

AZ> regardless of whether they're using Macs or PCs, spend very
AZ> little time 'playing' with their system to learn what
AZ> they're capable of, and when faced with something new-- in
AZ> this case, a new WiFi network-- don't even know how to
AZ> experiment and don't feel confident enough to try things to
AZ> see whether they'll work or not. 

They don't much care for the reformat>reinstall>reconfigure
routine that has been made so popular here at FIDO HQ. 

AZ> This is part of the reason why viruses and spyware spread
AZ> so easily-- users don't know very much about their
AZ> computers-- and don't want to learn, and so are easily
AZ> taken advantage of. 

To a degree (broad generalization there) but also because
people get used to just "clicking away" unwanted menus. With
'tooltips' being so very popular people just want the @#@$#$
thing out of their way and so click on "OK" to be rid of it
(without looking to see what they just OK'd). 

AZ> FIDO-readers are a special breed... 

Used to be true. Time is the destroyer of ALL things. 

AZ> most got into computers years ago as a hobby, 

Are you certain it's "most" and not just "many"? 

AZ> and are comfortable tinkering with them... 

Judging by comments posted on FIDO I don't think 'comfortable'
is the word I would chose. More like throwing caution to the
wind and hoping for the best outcome. 

AZ> but they're not typical of 'PC Users' or 'Mac Users' (or
AZ> whatever). 

Could you describe a "typical PC user" and point me to an
online image of one? I've often wondered what they are and what
they look like. 

AZ> (Of course, after warning about generalizations, I've made
AZ> generalizations about 'most computer users' and 'FIDO-
AZ> readers'). 

You will lose points posting on FIDO for: 

1. generalizing 

2. using prior experience as a reference 

3. not having up-to-the-minute hardware 

4. too few hours per day using (W9x, WinME, XP, Linux, OSX,
etc.) 

5. not using your computers for a church, charity, the elderly,
mormon genealogy, or a local 'club' 

6. having ever written a computer program for _anything_ 

7. not owning a laptop (several laptops is a plus) 

Keep this list handy and refer to it often if you want to
'communicate' without the need to justify your comments at
least six times for each comment (or until "No you're wrong"
becomes boring for everyone involved). 

>
>        ,                          ,
>      o/      Charles.Angelich      \o       ,
>     <|                              |>  __o/
>     / >          USA, MI           < \   __\__
 

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