It's nice to have Harold put things in perspective.
I find these subjects endlessly fascinating, but I also have managed to
make a few dollars at it. Any time I spend learning, or helping others,
pays off for me in the long run, with the added bonus of being enjoyable.
Most people I deal with just want the damn computer to work, and don't
want to know any more than necessary. On the other hand, they're mostly
doing email and a little word processing, and even a total loss of data
means virtually nothing to them.
If the true geeks are at the other end of the spectrum, there's a lot of
people in between who could benefit from a little more knowledge. Some
of my regulars have home businesses, serious hobbies like photography
or audio recording, or are just plain interested in computers and the
internet.
Some of these in the middle are driven to find their own answers, and
some prefer paid help.
The amount and quality of help available is staggering-groups like this,
entire web sites devoted to obscure aspects of computing, Newsgroups and
probably resources I don't even know about.
The real internet revolution, from my point of view, is the willingness
of thousands of experts, in all fields to make their knowledge available
to help others, just for the joy of doing it.
Computers have a long way to go before "user friendly" really means
anything, but those who want help and have the curiosity have a huge,
ever changing source of data available at the click of a mouse.
However, their responses
regarding how to see System Resources (or whatever it's called in WinXP)
brings to mind another problem that's always bothered me all my life,
which is, how much do I have to know about everything that is available
to learn in all our pursuits?
I mean, opening up that Task Manager's Performance tab also opens up a
whole new ballgame of learning (maybe hours and hours of study; every
detail leads to further details to learn about), and I'm forced to
reconsider priorities. I'm sure this problem (not system resources, but
priorities), is something many people have been concerned with,
especially in the exploding field of technology. If I add the other
fields of leaning, the sea of leaning becomes infinite.
Personally I've reached a point, what with helping grandchildren with
their algebra homework, periodically cleaning the floor under the
refrigerator and kitchen stove, keeping up with some exercise regimen,
spending time with friends, etc., that technology is beginning to play a
smaller and smaller role in my daily agenda. I have a website that I
don't even look at anymore; if the car needs fixing, it goes to the
mechanic; if I need fixing, I go to a different mechanic. What amazes me
is that I've been taking the computer matters very personally (it was
actually becoming an extension of me --- very dangerous, I think).
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