[rescue] Script Kiddies (Was: FW: Sun Microsystems...)

[Dave McGuire]

On October 6, Mike Meredith wrote:
> >   It seems common that someone who knows a little Perl and can
> > reinstall Windows all by him/herself is considered to be a "computer
> > expert" these days.
> >
> >   Worse yet, these people are considered by many to "know how
> > computers work"...which precious few of them actually do.
> 
> Too gloomy by far (although I don't know about America's young people).

  I disagree.  I see examples of it nearly every day.

> Although I'm a long way from direct student support these days, I still 
> encounter the occasional student whose queries indicate that they 
> aren't completely dumb and show signs of some promise.

  I'm not saying that everyone is dumb and has no promise.  I'm saying
that the vast majority of "computer experts" of today have nowhere
near the in-depth understanding of computer technology that the
average "computer expert" from the pre-Windoze era does.

> What's happening is that far more people are using computers these 
> days, so the ones who have a clue (or are in the process of getting 
> one) are far less visible. I suspect there's just as many good young 
> ones as there ever were.

  Though I do agree with this, I'm quite sure that there's more to it
than that.

  Though I'm not sure, I think part of it might have something to do
with the educational system.  In college, you are taught what the
profs want you to know.  Back in, say, the 1970s, computer courses
were far less common...and computer people learned what they NEEDED to
know...often by *doing* rather than by rote memorization which may or
may not be accompanied by any level of understanding.

  I'm not quite sure how to put it...but it seems that computer people
are much more "boilerplate" nowadays than they used to be.  Their
skillsets seem to be converging over time to what is considered to be
the commercial mainstream...whether the commercial mainstream is worth
a damn or not.  Am I making any sense here?

     -Dave

-- 
Dave McGuire
Laurel, MD