| From: | Gerald Mellor |
| Date: | 5 Sep 2000 at 21:40:33 |
| Subject: | Re: Oh No not linux |
Hi Roger, on 05-Sep-00, you wrote:
>> I'm inclined to believe that's the fault of Windows trying to
>> over-simplify things for the user, and implementing non-standard
>> GUI "features" such as 'My Computer' and the Start Bar.
>
> Yes, a reasonable chunk of Windows appears to be "simplified", but
> surely that's a benefit? It means that people who aren't good with
> computers can use them to some useful degree.
Yes they can use them, but when something goes wrong they have no idea
how to fix it. A lot of people these days learn to use computers in
terms of "click here to run this". If it doesn't work, or if for some
reason something has moved, they lose the ability to use the computer.
> My Computer, as I'm sure you realise, is just a single stage lower
> than the Workbench screen. If you ignore any Left Out icons and and
> AppIcons, then the Workbench screen (more so when it is a window) is
> just the same as a maximised My Computer window.
But there's a major difference. For people new to using computers, "My
Computer" seems to contradict everything they've been taught about the
computer so far. It's an icon that doesn't act like other icons. It's
a directory that doesn't act like other directories. It's a confusing
and unnecessary concept. Your point about the Workbench screen being
similar is fair. But Windows already has a desktop. Why add another
layer to that?
My point is that learning to use computers with Windows doesn't allow
you to intuitively use other computer systems, because the OS behaves
in such an erratic way.
>> Perhaps this is a symptom of computers being brought to the masses
>> in recent years, so that more and more computer illiterate people
>> are using Windows systems.
>
> I think that this is probably the case. Most new users, unless they
> are interested in computers, aren't particularly interested in how a
> file system works.
I wasn't talking about any great in-depth knowledge of how the file
system works. But a basic understanding of where things are going when
you install them is IMO necessary. A lot of people don't grasp the
idea of a hard disk, people "install things to the Start Menu". If
they can't access a program through the Start Menu they have no idea
how to get to it.
Regards
Gerry
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