Date: Sat, 23 Nov 2002 09:40:43 +0100 From: "Anthony Atkielski" <anthony@freebie.atkielski.com> To: "FreeBSD Advocacy" <freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: FreeBSD on the desktop (was: TheRegister article on Hotmail) Message-ID: <020501c292cc$03275c10$0a00000a@atkielski.com> References: <20021121161453.GA69019_submonkey.net@ns.sol.net> <008501c2917a$ac643080$0a00000a_atkielski.com@ns.sol.net> <200211221502.gAMF2a6a089963@catflap.bishopston.net> <20021122234047.GB60785@wantadilla.lemis.com> <014201c29296$f9cc4a20$0a00000a@atkielski.com> <20021123071534.GC39240@wantadilla.lemis.com> <01e101c292c8$1aa8cda0$0a00000a@atkielski.com> <20021123082710.GD39240@wantadilla.lemis.com>
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Greg writes: > Most Microsoft users "don't see a need" to do > things better. Perhaps, although Quark XPress is written by Quark, not Microsoft, and it is the standard of the industry. > That's amply demonstrated in email which is so > badly laid out that you'd think people would be > ashamed of it. Most people don't care. They are interested only in the content of e-mail, not in its formatting or in the conformance of its headers to any arbitrary standard. Only geeks care about the latter things, and geeks are an increasingly small minority of computer users. > The market doesn't know what it wants. More precisely, the market refuses to want what you think is best for it. > You're not listening, are you? I am listening, even though I've heard it all before. Most people dramatically overestimate the objective importance of things that interest them. Computer geeks thus dramatically overestimate the importance of just about any aspect of computers. People who are not computer geeks, however, do not care, and will consistently opt for whatever requires the smallest amount of thought on their part ... since they prefer to think about other things instead. > That's what getting your work done is all about. No, you can get work done with just about anything. It doesn't have to be ideal. And in fact, the time, effort, and money required to implement and use someone's notion of an "ideal" solution to getting work done is simply not justified for people who have other interests in life. Anything will do for them. > If I had to use Microsoft Outlook, I wouldn't even > get through my mail: it would take me more than a > working day to get through it. But lots of people use Microsoft Outlook or Microsoft Outlook Express and are entirely happy with it. They do not have your emotional investment in e-mail products. > I'm not sure what relevance this statement has. I'm trying to make clear that you have an extremely skewed perspective on the importance of many aspects of computer science in the real world--the world outside the geek community. Just as you lament ordinary computer users not using your idea of the perfect system, there are dentists lamenting the fact that you do not carefully brush and floss after every meal, and there are cardiologists lamenting the fact that you do not precisely weigh the quantities of saturated and unsaturated fats in every meal you consume. There are car mechanics who lament your failure to rotate your tires and change your oil according to a precise and optimal schedule. There are environmentalists who lament your failure to shut off your computer whenever you step away from your desk, and your failure to install optimal, maximally efficient insulation in your home to save energy. There are clergymen who lament your failure to pray for at least one hour daily in order to ensure your salvation in the afterlife. And so on. Do you see the point? What is important to you is not necessarily important to others. Microsoft and many other companies in many domains understand this, and design and market their products accordingly. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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