Hmmm, a computer user licence...

In a recent blog by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, he suggested that there be computer users licenses issued.

I can understand his frustrations, I see them everyday myself. While I can also be frustrated by the sometimes seeming total incompetence of a "casual" user", I think things need to be put into perspective as well.

While Steven goes so far as to call Joe User "dumb" I don't think he really means that. I would say Joe User can be willfully ignorant. For those in the management field, think of it as "Deniable Plausibility" meaning, if one doesn't know about something, one can't be held responsible for it.

If one purposely attempts to not know how things work, then that's that much less one has to do about them. At least, that's how the thinking goes.

I have commented before that the "average user" aka Joe User, sees a computer as an appliance. Like a microwave oven or a DVD player. It is there to perform specific tasks, he wants to push a couple buttons, click on an icon or two and WAMMO PRESTO, it is doing what they want it to do.

Joe User wants to surf the internet and check his email. He doesn't want to think about it beyond that. Applying "patches" or upgrades, installing updates and third party software is not part of that picture for Joe User.

That infers having to know more than what Joe User thinks he should know to doing something so seemingly simple as web surfing, watching movies, typing a letter, etc...

The same thing applies to car licenses. In order to obtain an car drivers license, one doesn't need to prove mechanical repair knowledge. Now, we all know, the more we are able to learn and do in terms of even minor auto maintenance, the better off our cars will run and be ready for us to use when we want them.

That doesn't stop some people from deciding they want nothing to do with that. Instead, they prefer to pay someone else to handle that for them. Hence the proliferation of lube and brake shops and tire stores all over the place.

If you were to walk into an auto repair shop, I guarantee you will hear auto mechanics mumbling under their breath that some folks just shouldn't be allowed to obtain a drivers license given the condition of the auto they bring in.

There is a reason, outside of shameless contractual trickery, that Windows has a broad appeal. It caters to the 'Willfully Ignorant" crowd. It tries to make things click it and do it experience for Joe User regardless of how much it might limit or hamper things behind the scenes.

The audience is there, demanding it. They don't want Linux because it is Linux. They don't shy away from it because it isn't Windows. They make an effort to not know about anything that might require them to know more than they want to know or do. The media has done a tremendous job of communicating that in order to use Linux, you must "know" about using computers. There is an expectation of knowledge and learning inherent in the very mention of Linux into a discussion.

That large audience only wants appliance like interaction because to know anything more than how to "click and run" means they will eventually have to do something they really don't want to do in the process.

As far as I am concerned, Windows is welcome to have that audience.