Subj : Re: SSH on BBSes
To   : Arelor
From : Nightfox
Date : Sat Apr 16 2022 11:19:26

  Re: Re: SSH on BBSes
  By: Arelor to Nightfox on Sat Apr 16 2022 08:17 am

 Ar> I think this generates the wrong sort of expectation from both consumers
 Ar> and, sometimes, manufacturers.

 Ar> An industrial computing resource is a complex tool and should be used by
 Ar> trained personal _only_. This does not mean that person has to be an IT
 Ar> expert, far from it, but he should know what the heck he is doing. It is
 Ar> like driving a car: you are not expected to be a car mechanic of an
 Ar> Engineer to use a car, but you are supposed to know how to use the car and
 Ar> to be able to do some routine maintenance yourself.

 Ar> The problem is that many domestic users enjoy zero-training appliances at
 Ar> home and, as a result, will demand everything else being zero-training
 Ar> (and will regard anything which is not as outdated tech).

I generally agree, it's good to have some knowledge about computers in order to use them.  Another problem with zero-training expectations is that sometimes someone might not realize they're doing something incorrectly, and if something goes wrong (due to lack of good computer maintenance etc.), they might think computers are just problematic and would get frustrated and not want to use them - not realizing that the problem could have been easily fixed or prevented.

It seems it has been an industry goal to make computers easy to use though.  I had heard that when Apple was working on their Macintosh, they wanted the Mac to basically be like an appliance - something that could be placed anywhere in the home and used easily.  Apple seemed to try to make things easy to use, and some people do tend to think things "just work" with a Mac.
Microsoft and IBM were similar in the 80s and 90s - First they had the DOS operating systems, and then wanted to make computers easier to use with operating systems like Windows and OS/2.  Windows 95 was really hyped up when it was released, as it was a significant change from Windows 3.1, and it seemed Microsoft was trying to make PCs easier to use with Windows 95.

Nightfox
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