Subj : Re: SSH on BBSes To : Nightfox From : Arelor Date : Sat Apr 16 2022 08:17:16 Re: Re: SSH on BBSes By: Nightfox to boraxman on Fri Apr 15 2022 09:56 am > bo> Sometimes (more often than not), the vision of making computers > bo> user-friendly, ubiquitous and accessible was a mistake. > > I'm not sure about that.. Computers have becomne such useful tools for many > things. For a long time now, I've owned a computer and have used them for > work, entertainment, financial tracking & other notes, work, etc.. > > Although we have the power to run our own social networks & communication, a > you say, I think the reason that's not very common is that not very many peo > know how. I run a BBS, and I suppose that could be considered a type of soc > network, but not many people these days seem to care or even know what a BBS > anymore. > > Also, it may make more sense to have a big company do that since more people > would use a single social networking site rather than a bunch of distributed > social networking sites. > > For a while it seemed most people had a desktop PC at home, and I've been a > surprised these days to hear some people don't even have a laptop and just u > their smartphone and/or tablet, if anything. Even as useful as computers ar > it seems many people still don't really know how to use them well or don't h > a use for them except for smartphones & tablets. > > Nightfox I don't think there is a particular issue with having computing resources available to the masses, including intellectually incompetent people. What I have issue with is the notion pushed forth by many IT companies that computing resources MUST be usable with no training or understanding of the underlaying technology. I think this generates the wrong sort of expectation from both consumers and, sometimes, manufacturers. An industrial computing resource is a complex tool and should be used by trained personal _only_. This does not mean that person has to be an IT expert, far from it, but he should know what the heck he is doing. It is like driving a car: you are not expected to be a car mechanic of an Engineer to use a car, but you are supposed to know how to use the car and to be able to do some routine maintenance yourself. The problem is that many domestic users enjoy zero-training appliances at home and, as a result, will demand everything else being zero-training (and will regard anything which is not as outdated tech). Aaaaaand that is the point in which some employee thinks his firms report sharing system is hard and complex and outdated because he needs to login with a security token and a fingerprint - actions which need the bare basics of training - and end up using Google Drive to share the company's information with other employees. Worst yet, zero-training services give us the idea that everything should be zero-training, but they are actually not zero-training themselves. Anybody going into the Internet should know the basics, such as how to detect scam attempts. We have this idea that we can go into Facebook with no clue of how to use it without getting burnt, but it is outright false. You would be surprised at the number of times in which I have prevented an amployee from falling for one of these. So, I agree that we all use computing resources but I don't agree that putting so many of them in the hands of unprepared people was a great idea. Also, I have found the people who uses a smartphone or a tablet instead of a regular computer are usually in the Very Very Poor demographic bracket, of the sort who barely manages to pay for rent. I think many of these would have a regular system if they could afford one. I think it makes sense for some people to delegate certain IT tasks to big companies within certain contexts, but socializing is not one of them. I don't need a social network where everybody is in. I need a communication platform where my friends are. If my friends are at some small IRC server I host under my bed I need no Twitter :-) Besides, silo-styled platforms are a step backwards. A good plaform should be able to link you with friends who are at different platforms, pretty much the same way you can talk to a gmail user using any other email provider. -- gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken --- SBBSecho 3.15-Linux * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138) .