On Thu, 28 Feb 2013 19:39:11 -0800, "William Sommerwerck"
wrote:
"Jeff Liebermann" wrote in message
.. .
...all that was wrong was that she hadn't turned on the power
on the printer, or as she put it, I had forgotten to tell her to turn
on the power, making this my fault.
I hope you charged her your full fee, and collected it.
Ladyfriend. I'll be lucky if I can get a free dinner for my efforts
and then only if I confess that it was somehow my fault.
So, which is it? Is computah hardware becoming more complicated,
or does exposure to computers cause the brain to turn into mush?
Ignoring the fact that people are not taught (from an early age) how to
analyze and solve problems,
Well, that's part of the problem. In a parallel effort, a different
friend and one of his accomplices are currently trying to troubleshoot
a non-functional Mercedes ML320. My guess is $200 in wasted money on
parts that were not defective so far. The problem is that despite my
advice on approaching the troubleshooting in a logical and systematic
manner, they've been floundering around for several days without any
useful results. I see similar logic errors everywhere I look. I
recall from skool, that there was a time when it was considered more
important teaching students how to think, rather than cram them full
of factoids. However, when they succeeded, and the student was able
to think independently, that was deemed some kind of aberration. That
was my problem in early skool.
I think it's the former. I find that as products
become more complicated, I have less patience with fixing or configuring them.
Most configuration problems are due to bad design, or the failure to
anticipate how products will actually be used.
I'm not sure which is the real culprit. Obviously, something went
wrong. I have no objections to the current state of electronic
complexity. What bothers me is the lack of consistency among user
interfaces and operating paradigms. There are a few standards, such
as up is on, and down is off, and maybe red is bad, while green is
good, but even those are violated. I installed a Logitech BlueGoof
iPad keyboard today and found a slide switch where red means power on,
and green means power off (which incidentally was not described in the
manual). Huh?
Such problems do not include remembering to turn on the power.
Apple: It just works (except when it doesn't).
Well, to be fair, it's an HP problem, not an Apple problem. HP
correctly guessed that many such printers will end up in the bedroom,
where bright lights from the printer is not acceptable. So, they made
the lights so dim. Unless one was specifically looking for the pilot
light, it would appear to be off. That's not a bad arrangement, but I
would not expect the typical customer to understand what is happening.
They probably thing, that if the iPad is "always on", why shouldn't
the printer be always on?
I can't claim to be all that perfect myself. In the distant past, I
designed marine radios, and wrote some of the manuals. I was rather
proud of the job I did on the first manual, until someone pointed out
that I forgot to explain how to turn it on and off. Oops.
In the future, I expect things to become more and more complicated. I
also see devices, like printers, engaging in a dialog with the user
and with other devices, to determine what the user wants to do. It
then negotiates the parameters and settings automatically between
devices. Put the iPad and printer next to each other, yell "connect
me", and they will. Send the printer some data, and it's a fair
assumption that one wants it to power on in preparation for printing.
Don't do anything for a few minutes, and it's a fair assumption that
the printer should power down. AI (artificial intelligence) was the
big thing in the late 1970's, but where is it today?
Ok, I've had my rant.
--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060
http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558