On Wed, 2 Jan 2002, dman wrote:
> | no. ideally noone should use software s/he doesn't (and is not
> | willing to) know a damn about.
>
> Well, do you know everything about all the software you use?
Every new technology goes through this phase. "Ideally, everybody who
drives a car should understand what goes on under the bonnet (= hood for
N. Americans)." "Ideally everybody who uses an electric light should
understand how to change a fuse." Etc. There are plenty of examples.
I remember back in the mid-1970s it was "How can you possibly let people
use the time-sharing online system when they haven't understood how the
computer works by learning to use the offline batch system?"
The problem is always how to make the new technology fail-safe and
idiot-proof. It takes time (think: early automotive technology). But
inevitably, it happens in the end because that's what people demand.
Just my GBP 0.02.
--
Philip Hazel University of Cambridge Computing Service,
ph10@??? Cambridge, England. Phone: +44 1223 334714.
