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Technology Stocks : Apple Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cogito who wrote (57671)	10/6/2006 3:22:34 PM
From: inaflash	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 213177

I don't think the average computer user is stupid, really. They just don't know much about how their computer works. Nobody ever taught them. Most of them aren't really interested in how it works, they just want it to do what they want it to do without crashing or displaying confusing dialog boxes. The idea that "many if not most" computer users want more "control" of their machines than Apple gives them is kind of silly. Not sure where that comes from. Certainly not from polling computer users. In any case, I don't think Windows users have any more "control" than Mac users, at least in terms of the OS. Personally, I want the computer to do more for me. The only time I want more control is when the computer isn't already doing what I want. In general, I want LESS CONTROL, as long as the computer is able to read my mind and do the things I want. For example, saving files used to be a user control. There were countless disaster stories about people not saving their files. Now the saves are automatic or prompted. Backup files are also "user control", but backing up large files routinely can get annoying, both taking lots of time and disk space. Just look at the evolution of word processing programs and you see how features try to do what the user would do. As more mind reading is required, more variations from a standard default are needed, but the more control users have for these settings, the more time and effort is required, and it starts to get out of control very quickly. The end effect is that more and more control is provided, but less and less are really used. A good anology is how automatic transmission have been adopted to cars. Die hard drivers will still want manual transmissions, but for most drivers, that's part of the control that automatic transmission do well enough and keep getting better. Car buyers even pay for the feature of taking away the control, because of the simplicity and convenience. How one considers these automatic transmission as being more or less control is subject to definition as are the options and settings on computer programs.