[geeks] geeks Digest, Vol 86, Issue 11

[Jochen Kunz]

On Sun, 17 Jan 2010 16:01:49 -0500 (EST)
Fred <FRED at MISER.MISERNET.NET> wrote:

> One of my pet
> peeves is people that have perhaps a basic understanding of Microsoft
Office
> Excel for example, and if you set them down in front of any other software
> maker's spreadsheet, they have no idea how to navigate.  This is because
they
> do not understand the *concepts* of a spreadsheet, just what M$ buttons to
> push.  You could of course use this example for any software, not just
> Microsoft.   If you understand the concepts, you can be put in front of
Lotus,
> OpenOffice Spreadsheet, Ami Pro, Excel, you name it - a formula is a
formula,
> you just need to know how the particular app implements it.
This is the point. Most people use a computer like a TV. They are
sitting passively in front of it. They await instructions from the
machine. Especially Windows and software that runs under it drills its
users to be passive and to be instructed. How things work and depend
on each other is hidden from the user because it is considered to
complicated for the user. I.e. a Windows user is considered to be a
dumb idiot. Linux expects a skiled, active user. Linux awaits
instructions _from_ the user.

E.g.: Put a DVD in a Windows box. A window pops up and asks you what to
do with it. On Linux you have to know that the DVD needs to be mounted
first and then _you_ have to invoke the application to access and
process data on the DVD.

There are things like KDE and GNOME that wane make Linux "easy to use
like windows". But all they make is imitating Windows, putting the user
in a passive role, trying to guess what the user wants and doing it for
him. Therefore I can't stand KDE and GNOME. They turn Linux upside
down, making the OS aktive and the user passive. Where I am used to
play the active role and the OS passively receives my commands.

An Excel "user" that only knows what buttons to push to get X done is
nothing more then a drilled monkey. He will not be able to do anything
else then X or do X with anything else then Exel. Someone who
understands the concept of a spreadsheet is a real user. He can do its
work even with awk(1) and he can deduce from X to Y.

Unfortunately most "computer lessons" in schools don't teach concepts.
They are "monkey training" most of the time. They teach to memorize.
They do not teach how to abstract from the detail to the general and
how to deduce from the general to the detail.
--


tsch|_,
       Jochen

Homepage: http://www.unixag-kl.fh-kl.de/~jkunz/