Home PCs are too complicated
For years I have been saying that home PCs are too complicated for the needs of the average user. Recently, I have even been going around giving a talk on Why Home Computing is a Mess. As far as I can tell, most computing professionals are unaware of the vast difference between their world and that of the average home PC user. Or don’t care. So I was pleased to see an article from Lance Ulanoff, Editor-in-Chief of PC Magazine Network, that begins:
Computing still sucks. It’s too damn hard and confusing for the vast majority of people. A recent study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project agrees. Well, not in so many words, but the report makes it clear that way too often computers and technology don’t work as advertised, expected or needed.
Unfortunately, Ulanoff spends much of the article discussing some of his personal, specific technology glitches and doesn’t really address the basic problems. What’s really needed is a simpler, more robust operating system. The iron grip of Windows on home computers does not serve most average PC users well. And naturally the hardware manufacturers would rather sell complicated (and expensive) machines instead of the low-margin, inexpensive appliance-like systems that are what so many home PC users need.
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