August 1st, 2007

Proof that there are two types of computer users: Dumb and Dumber

Posted by David Berlind @ 2:26 pm

Categories: General, IT Management, Personal Technology, Software Infrastructure, Technology Shakedown

Tags: Car, David Berlind, Computer, David Berlind

First, the good news. Our Technology Shakedown videos seem to be striking a nerve so expect more of them. The idea? We shouldn’t have to accept mediocrity in our technology products. Period.

Now, the bad news. Judging by the responses to these shakedowns (yesterday’s in particular), there’s a contingent of end-users who think mediocrity is well-enough and that I (as well as others) should be leaving well-enough alone. For example, ZDNet reader Don Burnett wrote:

Technology Shakedown is Right

I think the [David Berlind] should think about what he’s writing and find solutions to what he’s writing before he writes and puts something out there. I get very angry when I read this column because it usually makes people who are unfamiliar with computers or computer operations with Windows Vista unfairly think that there are problems with it.Most of the time the published material just points to the author’s unfamiliarity with problem solving for himself and calls attention to things that are really not problems for the uneducated user.

The only shakedown I see here is what’s happening to the readers of this column if they actually believe there is truth in this blog. The spin here is way too much in high gear.

Responses like these have led me to the conclusion that there are two types of computer users in this world: Dumb and Dumber.

Dumb: I’m using this term as endearingly as I possibly can. It refers to users like me and ZDNet reader Kris who, in direct response to Mr. Burnett, wrote:

Vista does have issues

I’m glad you are a brainiac that can figure everything out. But the typical end user just wants to turn on his computer and have it work. And that is what Microsoft advertises, ease of use. Imagine every time you got in your car, “do you want the oil pump on? Click here. Do you want the fuel pump on? Click here.” What fun driving would be if our cars ran on Vista!

Kris is on to something. The idea behind software is to automate and to make us more productive. Attributes like automation and “ease of use” are theoretically the expediters of productivity. They allow us to be blind or dumb to what’s going on under the hood so that we can do something outrageous like get work done. In fact, the messages we get from Microsoft (as well as other software providers) makes it clear that it’s one of their obsessions to convince us that their software makes us more productive than the alternatives. We shouldn’t have to be computer mechanics in order to be productive any more than we should have to be car mechanics in order to get from one destination to another with a car.

In a former life, I liked nothing better than getting under the hood of car. The same went for my computer. But when the 80’s came and went, so too did my recognition of just about anything that was visible when I lifted the hood on my cars. The same can be said of today’s software. This is disappointing to those of us who like to tinker. But now that I’m less of an enthusiast about both by car and my computer (I do have other passions), I see them more as tools to get things done and done more expeditiously given that time is my most precious resource. I want to be dumb about what makes them make me more productive (or mobile as it may be). I just want to get my work done (or get from point A to point B) and anything that gets in my way (be it a misbehaving warning message on my PC or the need to individually activate the water and oil pumps in my car) is just slowing me down.

By letting me be dumb about somethings, I get to be smarter about others: the things that really matter to me.

Dumber: This is the contigent of braniacs (in other words, not all braniacs) who think that because they can actually lift up the hood of a computer or a car and overcome their mediocrity, that those of us who can’t are idiots. They see themselves as being in the majority and roll their eyes at the sight or sound of any of us who complain that something isn’t quite right. After all, if it’s not quite right, the creators should be forgiven and we should be able to divine the solution from the same omnipresent, omnipotent technical God that they divined their technical superiority from.

They think they’re smarter than the rest of us but as it turns out, they’re dumber.

They’re dumber because they’ve lost complete sight of the fact that for most people, the machines they see as toys to be tinkered with are just tools to get stuff done. They’re dumber because in their lust to overcome the machine — a desire which most of us tool users do not share — mediocrity is actually their friend.

They accept it.

They probably long for it.

Without it, they’d have nothing to do.