On Wed, 21 Mar 2001, Rick Scott wrote:
> Profound advice. Keep backups of the stuff that is really
> important, then go nuts. =)
>
>
> I think the whole attitude towards computers has changed since the
> beginning of the PC era, and very much towards the worst,
> unfortunately. I got my first computer, a Commodore Vic-20,
> in 1982 or thereabouts. (I was 6.) I distinctly remember that
> one of the first things that the manual said was that
>
> THERE IS NO WAY THAT YOU CAN BREAK YOUR COMPUTER BY TYPING AT THE
> KEYBOARD, UNLESS YOU ARE AN ELEPHANT.
<Big Grin>. I'd love to see that in a technical manual today. Except
keyboards today are so flimsy it doesn't take much to break one. :) I
agree strongly with you about the attitude towards computers now--I'm a
crusty old computer hobbyist myself, and I get really nostalgic and sad
about how things have changed. Some days I think I had more fun with my
IBM XT and 2400 baud modem, when dialing BBS'es was the most common use
for a modem. I was thrilled to get a Unix shell account so I could
finally get on the Internet. That's how I got to love Linux, and run it
when I finally got a 386 I could put it on--I had to learn Unix by being
thrown into it with no clue, and got used to it and got to like
it. :)
>
> (pardon my caps.) Things have changed a bit, what with massive
> amounts of important data being manipulated on computers these
> days, but I still wish that more people of all genders wouldn't
> be so damned afraid of the overgrown abaci. =)
I think that non-technical people today are *more* frustrated and
intimidated by computers, even with computers being as ubiquitous as they
are and interfaces supposedly being 'easy' (I tell ya, many newer
complex GUI's confuse the heck out of me!). Computers are marketed to
people as appliances now, much like TV's, and people expect them to work
seamlessly and to not have to do anything 'technical'. Well, computers
still don't work like that. People used to view learning to use a
computer in much the same way as learning how to drive a car, learn basic
maintenance, and perhaps learn some basic mechanics. And everybody of
course probably has a relative who is a 'car hacker'--a self-taught
mechanic who likes to tinker around with engines, loves classic autos, and
has lots of rusted-out old wrecks lying about in the front yard. This
relative is usually not even a professional mechanic, either--they just
love to play with cars. It's so sad to not see this very much anymore
with computers.....:/
psyche
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