Reply to post: Re: For those user bashing

Re: For those user bashing

Most people (Richard Hammond excluded) would not be able to take a piece of specialized, heavy machinery and perform a delicate operation with it after three days of practice, let alone instantly.

But you know what most people SHOULD be able to do, should you demand they attempt it?

Most people should be able to:

1: Operate a motor vehicle. (Perhaps cultural, but from the perspective of a Yankee, they should.)

2: Prepare a sandwich or other form of basic meal. (Ramen, yay!)

3: Queue in line without losing your cool or being befuddled by the very concept.

4: Dial the emergency services number of their homeland, to get in contact with authorities in an emergency.

5: Compose a letter, and successfully format the envelope so it goes through the postal service properly.

6: Properly count and deal with physical currency for transactions.

7: Properly compose various bank forms, including deposit and withdrawal forms and checks.

8: Fill out a form paper, such as a job application.

9: Wash the laundry, dishes, and self.

10: Operate a computer.

Hopefully, by the time you got to 10, you had figured out my point, but in case you haven't, let me spell it out in plain English:

Operating a computer system is a life skill, not a trade skill as it was in the olden days. I wouldn't expect a carpenter to be able to perform an electrician's job, but I would expect both of them to be able to hop behind the wheel of the other's truck and navigate it to where it needs to go.

Likewise, I wouldn't expect an excavator operator to be comfortable fiddling around in regedit, or to use a memory editor to cheat on a running video game, or to be capable of programming even a Hello World program. I would expect him to be able to use a word processor to type up a letter, or use an email client or web-client to send it over the internet.

Laughing in his face was cruel and uncalled for, and you were right to put him in his place for that, but his basic premise of dismay that an adult human being of working age in a modern society is unable to navigate the basic interface of a computer is not incorrect.