yuri benjamin's Journal: Computers are not ready for the desktop

One of the tired old /. debates is the old
"Linux is not ready for the desktop"
"yes it is"
"no it's not"
"well, it's ready for mine"
"yes, but you're a special case"
yadda yadda ad nauseum.

Then there's the odd gag like "windows is not ready for the desktop" - fact is, to someone who's used to something else and not prepared to learn the windows way - it's not.

Well, I work in a call centre for a telco that runs two ISPs. While I work in account enquiries rather than technical helpdesk, I do field a lot of technical questions.
My conclusion:
General purpose computers are not ready for the unassisted novice

Most of the customers who really struggle to get anything useful done with their computers are windows users. Linux can be easier or harder than windows depending on what you're trying to do and what hardware you have. I can't comment on Mac OS because I've never used it. Our ISP customers who use Mac OS usually only call to change their address details or pay overdue accounts - I hardly ever have to put Mac users thru to the tech helpdesk.

I think there's a need for a set top box that runs a browser, an email client and a simple word processor (something wordpadesque). This should then be connected to an ISP that puts all its customers behing a huge NAT firewall (yes, I know this breaks the peer-to-peer "world of ends" nature of the net, but it's only for n00bs. l33t types can still have real computers unNATed and unfirewalled).

What do people think of all this?

TVs

[ryanr]

TVs make lousy monitors. When the world all has 1920 * 1080 TVs, then we can talk WebTV again. Windows is "easier" because people use it at work, and everyone around you knows it, your ISP supports it, etc..

Re:TVs

[yuri benjamin]

Lot's of people don't find computers at all easy, not even with windows. Maybe a good monitor should be inlcuded with the package.
Mechanics, teachers, shop assistants and many others don't use windows at work.
Mechanics use diagnostic computers with an embedded OS and perhaps in the office there's a windows box running a single app - a billing program of some sort.
Teachers use a whiteboard and textbooks.
Shop assistants uses some custom point-of-sale app.

Not everyone works in an office or cubicle in front of

Re:TVs

[jawtheshark]

Yes, you are quite right... I agree with all you say. There is a problem though with the "set-top" concept. People won't buy it. The reason for this is that they will ask the guy that knows most about computers in their environement. That's usually the guy that thinks he's a hacker because he knows how to pirate Office XP. Now this guy will tell them: "Oh, no, don't buy that, it's an inferior product, buy $MACHINE_OF_THE_DAY". Usually, the machine he recommends will be *his* dream computer and thus t

Along the same lines...

[Ethelred Unraed]

...people always are half-apologetic when they ask me for help with the computers, as if they feel like they should know how to take the thing apart and put it back together again. I've said it many times: you don't feel bad that you don't know how your TV or microwave or phone works, so why feel bad about not knowing how your computer works? Why should you have to know what a Registry file is, or the difference between DVD-R and DVD+R and DVD-RW and DVD+RW?

If anything it's remarkable how shitty computers

Re:Along the same lines...

[yuri benjamin]

computer and software makers have succeeded in flummoxing us all into thinking it's our fault for not understanding it, ... Bill Gates and even Steve Jobs have to be the greatest con artists of all time...

That's a whole other issue. I could say a lot about that too.

I tend to agree

[Degrees]

Robert X Cringley had a post about a 3Com computer called Audrey that was close to what you talk about. His point was that it was ahead of its time - if you find one today, it is still a good machine.

I have a mother-in-law who would benefit from an extra simple machine. If I could build an ideal machine for the ISP business, it would:

1. Be a LCD screen that hung off the phone jack
2. Worked as a speakerphone, with CallerID
3. Has a wireless keyboard with built in touchpad for a mouse
4. Boots from flash, wit

Re:I tend to agree

[yuri benjamin]

If a printer was an optional extra, this could be done.
The ISP could also print it and snail-mail it. They would need to charge quite a bit to cover the cost.

I would give the device a usb port and make it support any pictbridge compatable camera, just like many direct camera->printer photo printers already do. Then the customer could submit their photos to be printed and mailed to them.

Also, I wouldn't have your device plug into a phone jack. Instead it would plug into a cable-TV outlet (the cable mode

Re:I tend to agree

[Degrees]

Certainly, cablemodem or DSL would be a better solution, from a technology standpoint. My mother-in-law though, will soon be on Social Security, recieving a whole $500 per month. My cable bill is almost $90 per month, with $50 per month of that as internet service (just upgraded to 384 Kbps upstream, 4 Mbps downstream).

There is just no way my mother-in-law could justify $50 per month for "telephone plus". <:-{

Re:I tend to agree

[yuri benjamin]

$50 for 4Mbps - how much for 1Mbps?
Also, if this were instead of a phone line (VoIP remember).
Oh, and our hypothetical ISP has a senior citizen discount :-)

Re:I tend to agree

[Degrees]

True enough, I hadn't figured in VOIP as a replacement.

In my case, the only cable modem provider is Comcast. Comcast (I'm pretty sure) does not offer tiers based on speed. My monthly charge is rather high, but to keep us customers happy, they keep boosting the speed. I was the 23rd box on the local net, when they first extended their high speed data to my area. That was 1 Mbps. As DSL keeps making inroads here (lesser price), Comcast keeps upping the data rate, to seem competitive.

If you get to set you

Cars

[bettiwettiwoo]

I don't suppose that all owners of, for instance, good cars are good enough drivers to be able to take full advantage of the car. The same goes for lots of other things including computers. But so what? The full range of [anything] is not necessarily within the range of the average user; doesn't mean the average user won't enjoy the [whatever] or shouldn't be able to buy it. Super-duper [whatsits] have attraction far surpassing immediate use and usage: why else would people buy a BMW?! It's a great car, but

Re:Cars

[yuri benjamin]

I'm not saying n00bs should be banned from buying computers. I'm saying that the industry should offer an attractive set-top box package and not push them into buying an overly complex machine that will frustrate them. Many n00bs buy a higher spec machine than they need because someone in the industry hoodwinked them into thinking that's what they needed.

It's no accident that the only two industries that refer to their customers as "users" are the illicit drug industry and the computer industry.

I might b