Why can’t computer stuff work out of the box?
Certain professional defenders of Windows Vista are out there saying that Vista is a great operating system – all you have to do is carry out a raft of system changes and adjustments, download a bunch of drivers, and spend a couple of days tweaking. And, oh yes, you might need to add another stick of RAM. That may be all very well for these computer professionals but they are out of touch with the real world if they expect the many millions of ordinary, non-technical home PC users to be able to do anything like what they suggest.
The question is, why should a PC user have to hack around with what is supposed to be a finished product? Why can’t Microsoft sell something that works out of the box? Imagine if General Motors sold cars that only a professional auto mechanic could get to run properly. The attitude that it is acceptable to sell unfinished products that only a professional can fix isn’t limited to Microsoft. The whole computer industry is infected with this attitude. Over at PC Magazine, Sascha Segan writes:
I’m sick of people telling me that products are great—as long as you hack them. I appreciate their enthusiasm, but when it comes down to it, if you have to hack something, it doesn’t work properly.
Hacking only makes sense when its part of a two-step process. Step one: Acknowledge a product sucks. Step two: Fix it with a hack. This is good. The problem is when geeks add a third step: Claim the existence of the hack means it didn’t suck in the first place, or that the hack makes things better for non-geeks.
It’s all part of my general contention that the present kind of systems that are sold to home users are far too complicated and mismatched to their needs.
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