From owner-freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Oct 28 09:43:22 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8291516A4CE for ; Tue, 28 Oct 2003 09:43:22 -0800 (PST) Received: from web10101.mail.yahoo.com (web10101.mail.yahoo.com [216.136.130.51]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 0056143F75 for ; Tue, 28 Oct 2003 09:43:22 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from twigles@yahoo.com) Message-ID: <20031028174321.84152.qmail@web10101.mail.yahoo.com> Received: from [68.5.49.41] by web10101.mail.yahoo.com via HTTP; Tue, 28 Oct 2003 09:43:21 PST Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2003 09:43:21 -0800 (PST) From: twig les To: Daniela , "Devon H. O'Dell" , freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org In-Reply-To: <200310281808.47924.dgw@liwest.at> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Subject: Re: Friendly and Secure Desktop Operating System X-BeenThere: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: FreeBSD Evangelism List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2003 17:43:22 -0000 > Question: What makes the user stupid? > Answer: An environment that hides details and doesn't force > the users to know > a little bit of the thing they're working with. I think you are missing a crucial piece of the puzzle. Every single person I know suffers from information overload. They are supposed to know how to check their credit, know enough about their car to not get ripped off, count calories, see through stupid politician tricks, ponder whether there is a deity, pick an HMO/PPO that doesn't suck (possible?), and do their actual jobs. If they have kids then double the work. Add to all this the myriad things I'm forgetting and then start telling people about ActiveX and you can understand why they love Windows and Mac. > Call me paranoid, but I think this "over-userfriendlyness" is > quite dangerous. > We'll end in an environment where we don't understand > anything, and a few > companies control our lives. This might seem farfetched, but > we are slowly > walking in this direction. > Think about it: No knowledge - no control. And users are > accepting it. > They are just lazy and want everything to be done for them, > even if this means > they have to give up freedom. I'm reminded of The Cuckoo's Egg when Stoll says to an attacker at the end "But I don't want to secure my computer, I trust other astronomers." Most people simply have better things to do with their time. And the "stupid" part is a logic trap. I can't stand reading poetry. Hate it. So some well-versed people could call me stupid too because I always miss the subtleties, and in a particular scope they would be right I guess. But I simply don't care about poetry. Open-source is a great way to combat the dangers of user-friendlyness since if BSD ever decided to put DRM in the OS, someone would see it fast and yell. I agree that we as a society are specializing too much, but I don't have a patch for that :). ===== ----------------------------------------------------------- Get a taste of Religion ... eat a priest! ----------------------------------------------------------- __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Exclusive Video Premiere - Britney Spears http://launch.yahoo.com/promos/britneyspears/