Ah, now I feel inclined to jump in.
Imagine, if you will....
The home computer is in a utility closet, much like the furnace, the
electricals and the telephone switches.
It's big, really big. Can do all kinds of remarkable things really fast.
All over the house are touch screens, speakers and mikes. In a few spots
accompanied by keyboards and mice, you know, the spot where you pay bills,
or do your writing.
The technician installs and configures it when you move in, setting it up
for the appliances and number of inhabitants, getting you to read off a few
paragraphs each and setting it to recognize your family's speech manners.
He configures it to know your schedules and your names and your age and
status in the household, who's got what security rating, etc. Plugs
everything in, etc.
Now, you just walk around, address the thing when you want something "SAM,
fire up the coffee machine, would you?" "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that
command" "SAM, make coffee" "Coffee being made" and with that the brewer
opens up the hopper, runs a set portion of beans through the grinder, into
the filter, etc. It's got plumbing installed.
"Excuse me, but the coffee beans are running low, should I order more?"
followed by a note on all the monitors.
"SAM, grocery list, order ..... from .... store for delivery tomorrow at
9am" "Order being done"
You see, computers are going to get more and more intuitive, and they have
to. It's expected.
What we are using now is like a Model T compared to what it could be in
fifty years.
It's all a question of $$ and who wants to fund the research by buying
overpriced gadgets like that new robopup the Japanese have just released
for sale.
It only does a few silly things, like chase a ball, sit, wag, stretch, cock
it's head when it hears it's name, etc. But it's the shape of things to come.
If it can chase a ball, it could pick up all your toys and put them away.
In fact, one of the lego developers has a lego robot that sorts and cleans
up his lego blocks according to size and color, from the floor.
These robots can be coordinated via infrared or radio to a main house
computer that you bring in a qualified service technician to mess with.
same as you hire someone when the radio, the television, the electrical,
the furnace, etc. need service. I can change my spark plugs, or my furnace
filter, but it's because I'm too cheap/poor to do as my neighbors do and
hire a trained person to do it for me.
Say what you will about the laziness of people who don't want to learn
these things, but they'll keep us in business servicing their toys! Don't
look the gift horse in the mouth, just sell it more fancies.
At 03:00 PM 5/30/1999 -0700, you wrote:
>On 1999-05-30 [EMAIL PROTECTED] <Boanne> said:
>
> >Where did the idea that computers should be "easy" come from in
> >the first place? Where did the idea that Win3.xx or Win9x is
> >"easy to learn" come from? Isn't all learning the same to
> >begin with, including computers? Whether you decide to learn
> >Chinese cooking or computers (Win9x or DOS), aren't you facing
> >the unknown in both cases, or at least something unknown to you?
> >Isn't that the very nature of learning itself? Isn't the real
> >task bringing the "unknown" into the "known"?
>
>Marketers. They know all too well that one of the easiest and most
>pleasurable things to do is spend money on something desirable. Do you
>recall the "learning curve" sales pitch strategy used to sell an OS back in
>the late '80s (when the common three desktop computer choices were: DOS,
>Windows, or Mac)? DOS took longest to learn, according to some analysts,
>and the Mac was the most user-friendly and took the least amount of time.
>DOS users countered that by saying, "real men use DOS", etc..
>
>With the excuse that they were doing us a "favor" by making the computer
>popular and easy to use, certain marketers have created distorted
>expectations for new computer users: easier, more colorful (3D), more
>pleasant sounding, faster and bigger is "better", and "understanding
>computers" is for nerds.
>
>Once the personal computer boom is over, perhaps, the "art" of their proper
>understanding and application will mature more appropriately. Before then,
>though, I look for serious changes in the attitude and direction of the
>computer industry. A change for better learning habits won't occur
>until then.
>
>The closest movement in the right direction, so far as I can tell, is the
>open software movement demonstrated through the development of Linux. And
>when more people become interested in it, and they start to make it easier
>and easier to use for the average individual, guess what we might start to
>see? Well, what was the OS outgrowth that resulted from the UNIX years...?
>
>I think you know. Full circle...? ;-)
>
>Jerry
>Internet Montana
>
>-*- Teach others how to think, not to mimic!
>
>Net-Tamer V 1.11.2 - Registered
>
>To unsubscribe from SURVPC send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with
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>
bye, (\
Yolanda \\_/(\
UIN 4898262 Q Q \)
=(_T_)=
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-yvp '99
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