Get Me The Geeks? Oh, Please!
Apparently, computers and TVs are now so complicated they can only be set up by people who stay at home Saturday nights reading technical manuals. That's how 60 Minutes portrayed things on a recent segment. Maybe so, but here's another theory: Any generation is comfortable with, and only with, the technology in existence at the time it reached puberty--manuals or not. --Alex Wolfe
informationweek.com/1124/blog_geeks.htm

I agree with Wolfe, but I would go further. No one reads manuals because everyone intuitively knows that they are (or should be) useless. I am achingly tired of so-called software manuals that describe how to click File>New or Edit>Copy. What's the use of such stuff, except as an exercise in completeness? Manuals should be tossed in a drawer and referred to as a last resort, which is exactly what people do with them. The same goes for Help files, with the caveat that these files can, at least potentially, be task-oriented and thus offer some value.

Software and other technological wonders are supposed to be intuitive.

If they aren't, then they need to be redesigned. Technology companies know this, and that's why they spend so much on user experience and interface design and so little on stupid manuals. Eradicate manuals! Let the interface do its work! --Chip Burkitt

The 60 Minutes segment that you so harshly criticized accomplished the purpose that it was intended to. For the baby boomers and older who are afraid of technology's progression, it was an amusing and innocuous way of informing them of the rapid changes in computing, entertainment, etc., and submitted a possible answer to the crisis that they might consider it to be. To the generation that finds technology to be a blessing and not a bane, as well as successive generations that are more at ease with the HD revolution and the Vista unveiling, it just allowed a glimpse into a different perspective. Many people do find themselves in a plight where they need others to explain, install, and maintain the advanced items that they have in their homes. It was an interesting piece. It wasn't radical but it also wasn't nearly as pernicious as you made it out to be. --Seth

I agree with this in general, but I also blame the technology, which is getting more and more unfriendly. Hence, the success of Apple. I'm a network admin, but I still have a lot of trouble setting the time on my watch. The CD player in one of my cars doesn't have the correct time on it. I had a telephone answering machine that I bought in the late 1980s. It was pretty much perfect (except it used cassette tapes). It had voice prompts, was easy to program, had clear instructions, and always worked. The last two or three answering machines I've had we hate. They seem almost impossible to program, the time resets on any power glitch, and they're loaded with features we could care less about. And lets not even talk about cell phones. How about the concept of a phone that is a phone? --Jim

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: A general-purpose computer is a tool, not an appliance. Just because somebody gives you a router doesn't mean you can make wooden cabinetry. This is the core reason people have trouble using computers. You don't push a button and the computer writes your thesis. It's not a dishwasher! --Scott in NYC

Is Microsoft's Impact Bigger Than Google's?
Here's a thought-provoking question: Who has more impact on the economy, Microsoft or Google? During his annual predictions for 2007, futurist Mark Anderson said that Google and Microsoft represent two very different types of money: Microsoft is plumbing money, he said, while Google is ad money. What do you think? --Stephen Wellman
informationweek.com/1124/blog_economy.htm

This is a very narrow way of measuring impact on the economy, though of course it may be the only way we can reasonably measure it. Shouldn't we also measure the boost in productivity that's supplied by such killer apps as Microsoft Excel and Word? And Google boosts productivity enormously for so many people. From that point of view, how do the effects of the two companies' products on their consumers affect the world economy? --Omar

For me, the impact of Google is way higher, no comparison. The daily advantages I get from Google as a guide through the Internet maze count much more than what the Microsoft products bring. Windows is rather a bad product that makes life harder due to the countless security holes and frequent patches, and Office can be for most uses replaced by OpenOffice for free. --Dany

Ray Ozzie said it himself: There are no more Windows after Vista, we're going after what Google does. The future is in the Internet, people are talking about WebOS. Ajax is changing the Internet. Who expected to use his Web-based mail faster and easier than using Outlook? Google Calendar, Google Docs, and Google Analytics are all proof of where this company is heading. And there are rumors with some solid facts that Google is working on its own Linux version. You can imagine what will happen if it's released. --Bashar