coffee412 wrote:IMHO, People today do not know how to use much of anything. Something has gone wrong with people. Im not complaining that people in general should be able to setup a server or a large network. But they should understand what a browser is and how to connect to the internet - but they really do not. I think (right now) that this is the fault of companies like M$. The reasoning is that 'Make it as simple as possible' and this will increase the profit margin for the company. However, The downside to this is that you sacrifice learning and dumb down the population as a whole.
Today there is so much more opportunity to learn but no one is taking the time to learn. We have Youtube videos, Websites and more filled with valuable information that all you have to do is go there and learn all you want. Still, Most people never bother. Instead they sit in front of the TV and watch some sitcom. To be fair, There is a segment of the population that just does not have the time to spend hours reading or watching a video on how to get something done. They are busy with life's challenges - kids, work ect. I understand that.
In schools, Kids should not be isolated to just M$ products. This raises a generation of people that do not understand the basics of computers and totally depend on seeing a familiar icon (Internet Explorer) otherwise they have no idea what to do. These kids get no exposure to the alternate operating systems (except apple) and the computers they are exposed to are so neutered (software wise) that they give up understanding the idea behind it and just "Click this button to do this".
What I find most interesting is that we have raised a generation of Children that basically do not want to learn. They feel everything is entitled to them. After all, Dad and Mom gave them everything that they wanted - or someone did. Why should this change? They have no practical training when it comes time to leave home on their own. This is reflected in their attitudes towards everything in life. They do not understand the benefits of learning an alternate operating system like linux because most computers use Windows. When you tell them of all the evil that such an operating system has become - like the implications of security they shrug it off with excuses like "I have nothing to hide so why should I care?". I try to teach them that "Because sooner or later there will come a day of reckoning".
I have to blame Corporations and Big Business for most of this. After all, When you start thinking of George Orwell and '1984' we that have had the upbringing to think for ourselves it becomes abundantly clear that 'Big Brother' is not the actual governments but the Corporations in general.
Many times I have told people "Do not store things on 'the cloud' and do not use free email services for anything that you would not put on a post card". But they are so ingrained into the easy way of doing things and having corporations do their thinking for them that sensibility flies out the window.
"Dont worry, Your personal information is safe with us". Except those are the very companies you want to hide it from - and its not safe.
"Dont worry, You do not need to know all that just click this button".
M$, Apple and a host of other corporations have fostered this type of thinking in order to boost their bottom line. They have sold off a whole generation for sake of the mighty dollar.
Part of the reason I am not a Dell tech any more is the Certification process.
We used to go to whatever new products they wanted us to learn, go to the documentation, look through the docs, take the test, pass with at least a 95 and off to work we went.
When my company got the contract back again, I found all the training materials are now videos. While I do great with visuals, these videos were geared to the Lowest Common Denominator, and often redundant across the product lines. Yes, I KNOW all that from the last fifty videos!!! Why not present it in ONE video and then "Refer to video #1 for details"?
There is no way to pass the certs without using the videos. I found the text and photo based materials are still there, but you don't get credit unless you watch the videos. I can do quite well by READING, thank you, but they don't accept that any more. And these videos were really Mickey Mouse stuff. Like troubleshooting memory: "Remove all memory from the system. Try one stick in slot A. If that doesn't work, try it in slot B. If it works, slot A is probably bad. Now try the other stick..." etc.
If you don't know basic troubleshooting skills, you should probably be asking, "Do you want fries with that?" and not fixing Dells.
And that's just one example. Most of them were as insipid, or worse.
Parents Ashamed of Non-Hacker 'noob' Son
