To: StockMan who wrote (42890 ) 12/19/1997 3:05:00 PM From: Burt Masnick Read Replies (1) | Respond to
Stockman - My inlaws won't get into processing photographs or anything more complicated than email and Microsoft works. They are technophobes. They will be thrilled with that capability and it will suffice for them. "Don't touch a key or button unless we tell you to!!" We gave him a tutorial on the fly, helped him through making the labels and then had him repeat the process without our help so that we knew that he really knew how to do this the next time on his own. He had been trying for two days to get it done, complete with a book on Office 95 from QUE (actually a good book - one that I have used). He is a graduate electrical engineer who uses computers every day. He is smart. He just never did labels and mail merge before and the help screens are a little confusing. If there are ten steps to making labels and you have two or three confusing choices at each step, you figure out that odds of getting all the steps right the first few times. What's the point of all this. It's not easy to do a lot of these things QUICKLY unless you already do a lot of these things or have access to someone who can lead you through. I have been very lucky, having been surrounded by knowledgable users who helped me when I was starting. They were very, very patient and available. Very smart people (like my friend) have plenty of trouble with plain old simple computer tasks. That's why there are "Dummies" books and "Complete Idiot" Books that sell a gazillion copies. Because when you don't know quite how to do something you certainly feel like a complete idiot. Back to the subject. Without being a pompous ass, I will buy a $2500 PC for myself because I know how to exploit it and learn new applications readily. My kids are a lot better at this stuff than me. My inlaws will only be able to use canned programs because they never have been near a PC before, they are 10 states away and don't have anyone really patient and knowledgable near them who can show them, keystroke for keystroke, what to do. Maybe they will take classes, but I doubt it. That's why the $999 special is almost perfect for THEM. And for a lot of other people.
