[CLUE-Talk] The Microsoft penalty that isn't - Tech News - CNET.com

[Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier]

On Wed, 17 Apr 2002, Chris K. Chew wrote:

> I made the comment a while back at how businesses mysteriously loose their
> common sense when it comes to computers.  Business tactics and product
> failures that would  normally kill a company in other industries, instead
> elevate tech companies into a larger market share.

It's not just businesses - people in general have this conception of
computers as a mystical force that they simply will never comprehend.

I've worked at a college where people who have earned a PhD are
frozen at a dialog box with only one possible option. When presented
with a dialog box that tells them there's been a crash, and the only
button available says "ok" they don't know what to do.

> I feel as though this is a sign of our time, in that our society is
> progressing towards a state where people work solely in a
> "productivity-niche", becoming less of the renaissance man, and relying on
> the experts of particular fields for service.  For example, consider the
> dentist who knows teeth but can't work on his car and thus employs someone
> else to work on his car for him.  I can see the benefits of this kind of
> symbiotic system, namely greater productivity as a whole, and I support it.

I can't say that I agree entirely with this. For one thing, people are
increasingly pigeonholed. I'm currenly looking for a full-time job.
I'm going to have a devil of a time finding a good job because I'm
a generalist, not a specialist. Without sounding immodest, I think I'd
be a great person to have at any small company - I can admin servers,
write press releases or produce marketing materials, I've been a
manager for several years, done product purchasing and negotiation
and production in radio and television - just to name a few. But since I
haven't chosen to overspecialize, I don't fit any headhunter profiles.
If I look for a job as a journalist, most publications will assume I'm
not really a journalist because my professional experience has largely
been writing about computers. If I apply for an admin job, companies
will look at my resume and say "oh, but you're a writer."

Not to mention that the ability to adapt and learn is no longer valued.
Most companies want to hire someone who has done the same task over
and over again, if you haven't done job X for ten years, they don't
want to talk to you.

Obviously, not everyone can be a mechanic or dentist (self-dentistry
would be damn scary anyway...) but we've gotten too far from the
DIY attitude that made this country great in the first place.

> But I feel that it will not work for us due to some other trends occurring
> at the same time.  People are also losing their ability to think critically
> and make their own solutions.  People are becoming unable to apply lessons
> learned in the industry where they are a producer to an analogous industry
> as a consumer.  Consequently, suave marketing campaigns have become more
> effective than a quality product or service.

Exactly - the idea of learning something like Linux - which might
take a while, but save major money in the long run, is eschewed in
favor of a quick fix that is less robust and far more costly.

> It should be very important to us that people either learn about computers
> or learn to act as responsible, thoughtful consumers.  The same goes with
> the accounting, automobile, food, medical, and construction industries, in
> as much as we rely on these industries for (basic) survival in this system.

I feel a little RMS-ish saying this, but...

Customers, please - not consumers. Part of being responsible and thoughtful
is understanding that you have the power of your dollars. Consumer
implies that you're little better than cattle lining up to the trough.
Customers have the power to take their business elsewhere, consumers take
what's given to them. Yes, it's a matter of semantics, but remember
that language is responsible for the way that we think. If we think of
ourselves as customers rather than consumers - and demand to be recognized
as such - we'll have already won half the battle.

Take care,

Zonker
--
Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier -=- jbrockmeier at earthlink.net
http://www.DissociatedPress.net/
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"And so, may evil beware and may good dress warmly and eat lots of
 fresh vegetables!" -- The Tick