[rescue] Wooohhhooo XP -> 0 to BSOD in 12min23sec

[Steve Sandau]

I firmly believe that Windows is used because "everyone else does" and
XP will be purchased because it's newer and must be better. Kids want
things because "everyone else has one" and many adults are no different.

We (in general) want something for nothing. We want to have the power of
computing without having to learn anything. I think that's not only not
possible, but downright stupid. An interface cannot be so intuitive as
to require no learning. "The only interface that is intuitive is the
nipple. Everything else is learned."

This goes right along with weight loss schemes that don't require a
diet, muscle-building regimes that require no exercise and so on. In
marketing terms Micros~1 *is* giving people what they want: something
for no effort (just too much money). In some ways this *is* vaporware.
They're selling a concept of reward for no effort, and the public is
buying.

Speaking of brainwashing... I remember a sales rep calling me and asking
if we were considering upgrading any of our servers to Windows NT. I
asked what we might possibly have on any server that would make Windows
NT an upgrade. Stopped him.

Kurt Huhn wrote:
> 
> > Where does M$ find these people? Our M$ rep seemed to be brainwashed or
> > something, it was like he had some kind of personal infactuation w. Billy
> > boy it was pretty scary..... Then he tried to convince us to switch from
> > LaTeX to Office XP. At that point I stopped listened and I left in the
> > middle of his sentence, what a waste of my time!
> >
> 
> I often wonder, why would someone pay $200 (or more) for an OS that has no
> significant business impact.  I mean - what *are* the benefits of XP?  Can
> someone explain to me in tangible terms why *any* business would make a
> switch to XP?
> 
> I submit that, for all the supposed benefits of XP, you could setup a Linux
> box with StarOffice and your average business user wouldn't be any worse
> off.
> 
> The same co-worker that argued the benefits of XP to me, also tried to argue
> that your average computer user shouldn't have to memorize commands - that
> buttons and gizmos and wizards should do all the thinking for you.  I told
> him that it was bad practice to turn a computer into a pointy-clicky machine
> with a brain dead user.  It's that type of thing that results in *huge*
> customer support expenditures - and raises helpdesk suicide rates.
> 
> Apparently, the customization of the XP GUI is what makes it so great?  "Is
> that so?" I asked, what happens when the user performs Stupid User Tricks
> and deletes [insert function here] icon from [insert M$ app here]?  "Well,
> you reinstall the application." - he said.
> 
> I was totally speachless....
> 
> I don't think I won the argument - even though he walked away completely
> frustrated.  The last thing he tried to convince me of was that, with the
> advent of buttons, users no longer need to memorize *anything*.  Well, I
> shot that down with - "Then how do they know what the button does?  They
> have to memorize the function of the button - or else they'd never know what
> that button does.  Why is that any different than memorizing ctrl-b or
> crtl-i?"  Seriously, I know transcriptionists thatn out-type anyone, using
> Wordstar.  I knew a few that actually quit their jobs when they were forced
> to learn MS Word.
> 
> Kurt
> 
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-- 
Steve Sandau
ssandau at bath.tmac.com