[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 like your distinction between customer and consumer.  I used the term
> "consumer" because I tend to think that even though I do have a choice of
> where I take my business, too often one choice isn't any better or worse
> than the other.  A good example is local phone service -- Qwest or AT&T,
> they are both terrible companies.  I feel like a cow lining up for the
> trough.  Nevertheless, I do strive to be a customer, and strive to help
> those I come in contact with to be customers as well.

Thanks. It's true, it's hard to feel like a customer when dealing
with companies like Qwest or AT&T. Particularly when Qwest does
something like switching all the DSL customers to MSN. It's
more like being a carjacking victim, not a customer.

> About job specialization, it is amazing to me how so many companies are
> unwilling to hire a person over a skill set.  My company hasn't had the
> opportunity to hire anybody yet, but we have had many discussions about how
> we are going to go about doing it.  We are far more interested in the
> personality and eagerness to learn and work hard, than whether or not they
> have a SAIR, J2EE or MBA.  Hopefully you can find someplace that thinks more
> like you and I do...

I certainly hope so. I know when I've been hiring people it's been
more important for me to find someone who is adaptive.

> There is nothing that frustrates me more than somebody saying "Computers? I
> can't do computers" or worse, "I can't do math".  Of course you can't do
> math, schools don't know how to teach it to you!

I hope that this is going to be a short-lived phenomenon. I mean,
kids who are exposed to computers don't seem to have this affliction,
so maybe it's just people who were conditioned to believe that
computers were unknowable.

It reminds me of a short video clip I used when I taught an intro
to computers course - it was a movie reel where a woman was standing
in front of a huge rotary phone and was explaining in great detail
the concept of dialing the phone. Imagine needing to be told how to
use a phone! I suppose in the early days of phones there were people
who felt they were horribly complicated and beyond their comprehension...
so there's hope that kids will be just as comfortable with computers
as everyone is with phones.

Take care,

Zonker
--
Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier -=- jbrockmeier at earthlink.net
http://www.DissociatedPress.net/
ymessenger: jbrockmeier / AIM: ZonkerJoe
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moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our
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