Posted by: Anonymous Coward
on March 02, 2004 05:24 AM
One obvious example coming from real life which refutes this is the evolution of the modern day automobile.
You reasoning has a fundamental flaw in it: a car, or any automotive device of any kind or size or complexity you could think of, is an object that does only one task: getting your ass from point A to point B. Everything else (car stereo, air conditioner, secutiry devices, etc.) is optional, and has nothing to do with the nature of that object.
A computer is a tool that potentially could do everything a user wants to do, given skill and time. It is the way a computer was meant to be, it is the way a computer is built. Otherwise it wouldn't have been programmable, extendible and everything that makes a computer useful in everyday's use.
While ESR has a point in saying that some user interfaces are built with hackers in mind, instead of end users, never - never - think that a computer should be dumb enough to match the inherent stupidity of every "Aunt Tillie" that comes in the way. A computer is a tool: even a dumb tool like an hammer requires proper studying to avoid hurting your thumb with every stroke, or using it to saw instead of nailing down something.
So, please: stop saying that a computer should be like a car, like a microwave oven, like a toaster or like a VCR: a computer is a computer. It will never be "dumb", otherwise it would be called "PlayStation".
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Re: The Linux identity crisis
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on March 02, 2004 05:24 AMOne obvious example coming from real life which refutes this is the evolution of the modern day automobile.
You reasoning has a fundamental flaw in it: a car, or any automotive device of any kind or size or complexity you could think of, is an object that does only one task: getting your ass from point A to point B. Everything else (car stereo, air conditioner, secutiry devices, etc.) is optional, and has nothing to do with the nature of that object.
A computer is a tool that potentially could do everything a user wants to do, given skill and time. It is the way a computer was meant to be, it is the way a computer is built. Otherwise it wouldn't have been programmable, extendible and everything that makes a computer useful in everyday's use.
While ESR has a point in saying that some user interfaces are built with hackers in mind, instead of end users, never - never - think that a computer should be dumb enough to match the inherent stupidity of every "Aunt Tillie" that comes in the way. A computer is a tool: even a dumb tool like an hammer requires proper studying to avoid hurting your thumb with every stroke, or using it to saw instead of nailing down something.
So, please: stop saying that a computer should be like a car, like a microwave oven, like a toaster or like a VCR: a computer is a computer. It will never be "dumb", otherwise it would be called "PlayStation".
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