I've lived in the UK, and never had a license to maintain or update the engine. Additionally, I could drive on the M1 or M5 at speeds rarely found in the US, certainly not legally. You don't get any additional training to do this - its implied in your licensing. The "computers as cars" analogy applies to commoditization of a utility. The message is 99% of the world's computer users (private and otherwise) view their PC/laptop as a "gadget" like their phone or TV. They plug it in, they turn it on, it works. That is what the expect and is all they will culturally accept. Placing the burden on the user will not work. -----Original Message----- From: variable@ednet.co.uk To: St. Clair, James Cc: 'nanog@merit.edu ' Sent: 8/14/2003 9:17 AM Subject: RE: How much longer.. On Thu, 14 Aug 2003, St. Clair, James wrote:
Cars did not become more popular because owners had to learn how to swap more parts.
The good ole "computers as cars" metaphor. In the UK: 1) In order to drive a car, you have to have a license. 2) In order to have the car on the road, you have to have it taxed and have a qualified mechanic certify it for basic road worthiness. Neither of these rules currently apply to computers. Maybe they should. Rich
On Thu, 14 Aug 2003, St. Clair, James wrote:
I've lived in the UK, and never had a license to maintain or update the engine.
See point number 2:
2) In order to have the car on the road, you have to have it taxed and have a qualified mechanic certify it for basic road worthiness.
The "computers as cars" analogy applies to commoditization of a utility.
A computer is a computer. Analogies like this only serve to add to the confusion. Rich
--- "St. Clair, James" <JStClair@vredenburg.com> wrote:
I've lived in the UK, and never had a license to maintain or update the engine.
But I bet that you DO have someone maintain the engine in your car (and so do most people).
Additionally, I could drive on the M1 or M5 at speeds rarely found in the US, certainly not legally. You don't get any additional training to do this - its implied in your licensing.
The "computers as cars" analogy applies to commoditization of a utility. The message is 99% of the world's computer users (private and otherwise) view their PC/laptop as a "gadget" like their phone or TV. They plug it in, they turn it on, it works. That is what the expect and is all they will culturally accept. Placing the burden on the user will not work.
But the expectation is there that you will regularly take your car to a mechanic for various maintenance which will be nebulously explained by technicians using words like "bearings," "valves" and "rings." I believe that the model we need to follow is something like this - train users that they need to follow some { simple, quick } process for regular maintenance, and then make sure that the mechanics are looking for things which are out of order (i.e. you brought the car for an oil change, but your air filter is shot). This could be an opportunity to say "you have 4 ad-bots on your computer, which reduce performance. do you want them removed?" -David Barak ===== David Barak -fully RFC 1925 compliant- __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com
participants (3)
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David Barak
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St. Clair, James
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variableļ¼ ednet.co.uk