I've come to a realization . . . .

BarnabasSackett

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Actually, it's been developing over a long time and that realization is that most people are too stupid to really know how to use their computers or what goes on with their computers and really don't want to know. Surprisingly, this includes much of the supposedly "tech-savvy" younger generation.

I'm retired assembly language and C programmer and now work at a large store. One of my coworkers is a young fellow (23) and always talks about how "techy geeky" he is. Computers are his thing. Computers are where it's at. This fellow was surprised as all get out to learn that he could upgrade the operating system on his PC. He thought that the operating system that came on it was the only one that could work.

Anyway, back to the story.

I was at a store a couple weeks ago and was playing with a PC that had Windows 8 installed. I was was less than impressed by the black screen with the boring icons. Then I started that sideways scrolling thing to find programs. God that was awful.

I've always liked uncluttered desktops on my computers. I normally have only four or five things on the desktop. I use the QuickLaunch bar for things used daily, I have toolbars created for groups of programs that I use often and the Start menu is organized into groups. However, I am the exception.

When I use someone else's computer, their desktops are a mess. A gazillion icons on the desktop because every program plops an icon there even if it will never be used, like Acrobat Reader or whatever its current name is.

So for these people to have to scroll sideways through ten pages of big blocks to find Quicken is probably an improvement.

Back to my earlier rant.

Back in the early days of PCs, I'd wind up helping someone straighten out problems with their PC and I'd find that all of their data was mixed in with the applications. Why? Because the default save directory for many applications was the installation directory for that application. So if you did something like delete the entire application to do a fresh install, all of their documents were gone. Arrrrrr!

Fortunately, someplace along the way, Microsoft introduced the documents folder but I've found that people still don't know where their stuff is hidden on the computer. They just blindly let the applications put their files wherever the program desires which makes life complicated when they want to do something simple like copy a file onto an SD card.

I teach an adulted class that is computer centric. My students are all adults, mostly professionals, ranging in age from 40 to 60. Most of these people have computers at work but I am continually astounded at how few of them know how to copy and paste or how to find a photo on an SD card.

I guess that I shouldn't be surprised. I know people who didn't know that their car's engine had oil in it.

Well, that's the end of tonight's rant.
 

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:roflmao::what::doh:

My man! I just finished laughing about your post. No laughing AT, but laughing ABOUT. It is just SO RECOGNISABLE for me! Thank you!!!!

I am what you might call a young person (early 30's), but I've been around pc's since the 3x86. Since then pc's were a part of my life and I made it my life's work to know as much about them as I could. And in that perspective I did help A LOT of friends, collegues, family of collegues etc. with their corrupted machine and other pc questions. Not for money, just because I like helping people in distress.

Recently I terminated my "helpdesk modus" due to the fact that how hard I try, the most people just won't want to learn anything about their pc and keep on making the same mistakes over and over again. So I fixed a pc today, tomorrow they will be back because something like "the startpage is gone and only gives an Ask site" etc. The "tragic" part is dat some of those lunatics even call themselves "computer minded pro's" ==> yeah right!

I don't think everyone should know everything about the pc's. But please, please make them "think first, think again, and click later". That would solve a lot of problems on this world ;).

I just woke up and saw your post and started typing a reply. I guess I don't have a real point to make here, other than a "THANK YOU FOR THE MORNING LAUGH!". And in the end I think people like you and me are part of an elite club of people who actually KNOW what computers are and how they work and who think first and act later..... Amen to that!
 

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Hi there
I'm older than both of you - but this reminds me of common instances back a while. Remember when cameras were separate devices and actually had a strange mysterious roll in them -- I think it was called "Film".

Anyway in the interest of "dumbing down" the population was it Kodak - or somebody else - I don't know - but they bought out this camera called an "instamatic" where the film came sealed in a "cassette" like enclosure. - You just opened the camera and inserted the cassette. Rather like inserting an SD card into a phone / e-reader other device.

Even back then people would go into the store and ask the salesperson " Can you please change the film in my Instamatic camera as I don't know how to do it". :mad:

Seems the brains of "Homo Sapiens" have regressed even further since those days.

Cheers
jimbo
 

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In my travels, it seems the longer someone has been in the computer industry, the more inept they are at dealing with the latest technology or hardware. Constantly winging about this and that from 30 years ago and how it's all gone to hell, and that it's all microsofts fault or that the population is dumb.

A young'n like me comes along with his fresh brain socking up al there is to know about the latest OS and is constantly hungry for more knowledge, the older guy always seems to revert back to the same old argument that "I've been around commuters since before you were born" crap.

I don't care if you were a computer engineer for Nasa, I'm not the one asking why there's a balloon notification saying Delayed Write Error after having pulled out the thumb drive while stuff was copying to it now am I?

Has beens are the worst computer geeks to deal with. Get with the game or stop complaining.

Microsoft is an adventure! Take the new OS and be grateful that is IS DIFFERENT, rather than complain the "they've changed everything".

Imagine how you'd feel if you booted 8 for the first time and it was identical to 7... is that what you really want?

I didn't think so.
 

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"Users" are dumb. They have been since the beginning of time, and always will be.

BOFH will inherit the world.
 

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Awesome read...I see it every day, sadly it's with the wife's laptop. I cringe every time she asks me to take a look at her laptop for this of that reason. I just, as a husband should do, say ok dear and fix what see wants and let her go on her marry way.
 

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Imagine how you'd feel if you booted 8 for the first time and it was identical to 7... is that what you really want?

I also like having the clutch on the left, brake in the middle and gas on the right. If I got into a car and those three things were in different places, I wouldn't like that at all. I guess I am an old fogey.

One of the things that you learn as you age is that change for the sake of change is rarely a good thing and that evolution is usually better than revolution. New isn't always better. VHS wasn't really better than Beta. HDMI isn't the bestest thing ever. The disc camera was not better than the Instamatic.
 
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Awesome read...I see it every day, sadly it's with the wife's laptop. I cringe every time she asks me to take a look at her laptop for this of that reason. I just, as a husband should do, say ok dear and fix what see wants and let her go on her marry way.

take the time and teach her ,i did and you would not believe the time it now saves me ,she converts and burns dvd ,taught he to alt+ctrl+del for task manager when she's first hit with a trojan ,to killit ,then run malwarebytes ,and ccleaner and MSE ,ect ect , better to teach than just Do!
now if i could do that with the rest of her family[11 in all ] well educated most of them and as already pointed out all ready by OP ,then still don't know how to get files of devices ,4 yrs of pic's on cameras and the like ,it just goes on and on ,



I don't consider myself a Computer Tech,but i have taught myself a lot about computers over the years ,cant code .wish i could ,no memory for one thing ,also have A.A.D.D.,im almost 60 ,and been using since mt first 386 computer .If you go to Microsoft MVP site and search jack burton you will find me there,last 4 years now ,actually don't know how i ever got it comparing myself to others there "i know nuttin " [i know for help on forums like this one ] but i do know that its harder to qualify now ,anyway ,i got the door stop trophy .lol
great thread and great chuckle
 

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Old computers and OS's are one thing; new ones are another. They're very different. But I know both, and I love both.

I was into mainframe computers in the 1960's and 70's, using COBOL and Assembler. I had an original IBM PC in the early 80's and used Assembler and Pascal. But I've been away from computers for about 25 years, other than using them on the job (Outlook, Word, etc).

A few months ago I decided to get back into computers again, even if only for fun. But I knew that all my old-school computer knowledge was no good today. So I first bought a 1000-page book on Windows 8, read the whole thing, and made sure I understood it. THEN I bought a computer. And that's why I only need "help" once or twice a month, rather than every ten minutes.

When you purchase a computer, you aren't thereby "purchasing" knowledge about it. You have to ACQUIRE the knowledge. Everybody knew that in the 1950's and 60's, but nobody knows it today. Back then, nobody ever bought a computer and just started pushing the buttons experimentally to see what they would do. You learn first, and then you buy. If you worked for a business that had a computer, they wouldn't even let you touch it unless you had studied computers in a technical school or in college.

But now it's "Buy first, and then learn." And that's why there are a million "technical service reps" on the phone 24/7 helping people (and businesses) with every little thing that happens. By the time they're through with phone calls, and e-mails, and recovering, and refreshing, and restoring, and re-installing, and repairing, and software add-ons, and upgrading, and downgrading, it'll cost them maybe $500 or $1000, plus a ton of aggravation. And why? Because they didn't want to pay $50 for a book. Or because they just don't enjoy reading. And the irony of it is that the people who AREN'T in it just for fun -- the ones who need it for a PRACTICAL purpose -- are the ones who don't want to learn.
 

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Great post Dragon Drop! And so true!
 

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Imagine how you'd feel if you booted 8 for the first time and it was identical to 7... is that what you really want?

I also like having the clutch on the left, brake in the middle and gas on the right. If I got into a car and those three things were in different places, I wouldn't like that at all. I guess I am an old fogey.

One of the things that you learn as you age is that change for the sake of change is rarely a good thing and that evolution is usually better than revolution. New isn't always better. VHS wasn't really better than Beta. HDMI isn't the bestest thing ever. The disc camera was not better than the Instamatic.

AND, at one time dimmer switches were on the floorboard; subject to rust as well as fumbling for. Now they are conveniently built into the turn signal switch.

Now I remember, old timers complained about that change, as well as front wheel drive being unsafe, anti-lock brakes, power steering on semi trucks would make them lose control,

I remember it taking awhile for everyone to embrace XP from 98. ME & 2000 weren't embraced at all.
So if vista was the stepping stone from XP to 7. Perhaps 9 will be smooth like 7.
If not, we still have to accept MS is changing for the future. It is only then, when we accept the changes, that we can move on to find benefits of the new OS and share with others.
 

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And the irony of it is that the people who AREN'T in it just for fun -- the ones who need it for a PRACTICAL purpose -- are the ones who don't want to learn.

well said ,great post
 

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Actually, it's been developing over a long time and that realization is that most people are too stupid to really know how to use their computers or what goes on with their computers and really don't want to know. Surprisingly, this includes much of the supposedly "tech-savvy" younger generation.

I'm retired assembly language and C programmer and now work at a large store. One of my coworkers is a young fellow (23) and always talks about how "techy geeky" he is. Computers are his thing. Computers are where it's at. This fellow was surprised as all get out to learn that he could upgrade the operating system on his PC. He thought that the operating system that came on it was the only one that could work.

Anyway, back to the story.

I was at a store a couple weeks ago and was playing with a PC that had Windows 8 installed. I was was less than impressed by the black screen with the boring icons. Then I started that sideways scrolling thing to find programs. God that was awful.

I've always liked uncluttered desktops on my computers. I normally have only four or five things on the desktop. I use the QuickLaunch bar for things used daily, I have toolbars created for groups of programs that I use often and the Start menu is organized into groups. However, I am the exception.

When I use someone else's computer, their desktops are a mess. A gazillion icons on the desktop because every program plops an icon there even if it will never be used, like Acrobat Reader or whatever its current name is.

So for these people to have to scroll sideways through ten pages of big blocks to find Quicken is probably an improvement.

Back to my earlier rant.

Back in the early days of PCs, I'd wind up helping someone straighten out problems with their PC and I'd find that all of their data was mixed in with the applications. Why? Because the default save directory for many applications was the installation directory for that application. So if you did something like delete the entire application to do a fresh install, all of their documents were gone. Arrrrrr!

Fortunately, someplace along the way, Microsoft introduced the documents folder but I've found that people still don't know where their stuff is hidden on the computer. They just blindly let the applications put their files wherever the program desires which makes life complicated when they want to do something simple like copy a file onto an SD card.

I teach an adulted class that is computer centric. My students are all adults, mostly professionals, ranging in age from 40 to 60. Most of these people have computers at work but I am continually astounded at how few of them know how to copy and paste or how to find a photo on an SD card.

I guess that I shouldn't be surprised. I know people who didn't know that their car's engine had oil in it.

Well, that's the end of tonight's rant.

So Barnabas, if one of your students says they are going to buy a new computer with 8 installed how will you respond? By telling them not to because 8 is crap and buy 7 instead?
How about when a student talks about upgrading 7 to 8?
Are you going to quit teaching because MS OS's are getting stupid?

I believe the majority of people not in school or working use computers for email, games and social sites.
They don't know how to do what they want at first.
They don't understand how icons get on their desktop, much less know how remove, rearrange or hide them.
They don't know how to navigate thru folders. Much less understand the jibberjabber about default location for file saving location of their new program. Don't know difference of file suffixes.
Simple everyday tasks like copy/paste are learning challenges to someone without computer familiarity.

For a computer teacher to come here, complaining how smart those idiots aren't after paying him to teach them is ......
They aren't the idiots
 

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To those of you who are computer savvy, I admire that. Especially those who understand programming, I think that's great and I wish that I had that ability. But to those of you who call others who are not as adept as you "stupid" and put them down in other ways I would call that a little bit childish. Incidentally, they may be more adept in other areas than you are in computers. But, I would hope they would not call you stupid because you are not knowledgeable as they in their field. And yes, Jimbo, I might be even older that you are.
 

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To those of you who are computer savvy, I admire that. Especially those who understand programming, I think that's great and I wish that I had that ability. But to those of you who call others who are not as adept as you "stupid" and put them down in other ways I would call that a little bit childish. Incidentally, they may be more adept in other areas than you are in computers. But, I would hope they would not call you stupid because you are not knowledgeable as they in their field. And yes, Jimbo, I might be even older that you are.

now i feel stupid ,thank god i did,t call any of my wife's family stupid
 

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It's not a question of being "smart" or being "stupid." I would never call anyone stupid just because the intricacy of computers is too much for them, as it is for millions of others. But the computer and software makers want everybody to buy their products, so they try to convince the public that computers are "easy."

Then people buy a computer and think "I've gotta do it! If I can't do it, it'll mean I'm stupid!" But it's NOT because they're stupid; it's because computers just AREN'T easy.
 

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To those of you who are computer savvy, I admire that. Especially those who understand programming, I think that's great and I wish that I had that ability. But to those of you who call others who are not as adept as you "stupid" and put them down in other ways I would call that a little bit childish. Incidentally, they may be more adept in other areas than you are in computers. But, I would hope they would not call you stupid because you are not knowledgeable as they in their field. And yes, Jimbo, I might be even older that you are.

Very well stated and agree, Frank. :thumb: I very much like your sig BTW. :) I think some here should read and contemplate on the quotes.
 

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It is sad but it is true. I teach classes at a computer club with 800 members. 795 of those have no clue how to deal with a computer - other than clicking on a couple of preset icons. A lady who claims to have used a PC since 20 years complained that my classes were too difficult to follow. And I really designed them for the last moron to understand with plenty of visuals and links.

Ask the kids to convert the number 30 to binary and then to hexadecimal. Those that come up with 0001 1110 and 1E are the winners.
 

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