UI problems solved: wait till all the old people die?
What a stupid idea...well, yes and no.
Friday, July 8, 2005 by Tory Larson | Discussion: Personal Computing
Another thought-provoking article on AppleMatters.com. He's right, but...there's a major problem with this idea. If the metaphor is unusable, then the device is, perhaps, non-intuitive. I know a 70-year-old lady who does amazingly well with Windows. Why? Because, she's been able to wrap her head around the metaphor. Most older people can't. I agree that computing will be very different in 25 years, and perhaps easier to support. But, we live here and now--and I don't want to have to wait that long to make computers accessible to the masses. Do you?
glowster
Reply #2 Friday, July 8, 2005 12:49 PM
Reply #2 Friday, July 8, 2005 12:49 PM
Welllll, as always Im apparently the exception. I was old when i got my first computer..since then i have built 3 of them. So much for generalties.
Tory Larson
Reply #3 Friday, July 8, 2005 1:07 PM
Reply #3 Friday, July 8, 2005 1:07 PM
No doubt. He makes a good point--BUT as, Ben1265 pointed out, there are plenty of people now who are not growing up with computers. And that's in industrialized nations. Let's not even talk about 3rd world contries.
Again, I think it all comes back to the metaphor--if you want to make it accessible.
OR...do like has been done with shells like BlackBox, and just do away with the metaphor alltogether. In some respects, that's a better approach. I sometimes talk about a computer as an appliance--but what metaphor does a toaster use? None. It is, well, a toaster. And when toasters first arrived, folks had to figure them out. And everyone uses them differently, so to suit themselves. Toaster ovens never caught on like toasters, and I think the reason is because the toaster just defines simplicity. To use an oven metaphor is to over-complicate the situation. Are we doing this with computers?
I should write a piece about that... *g*
Again, I think it all comes back to the metaphor--if you want to make it accessible.
OR...do like has been done with shells like BlackBox, and just do away with the metaphor alltogether. In some respects, that's a better approach. I sometimes talk about a computer as an appliance--but what metaphor does a toaster use? None. It is, well, a toaster. And when toasters first arrived, folks had to figure them out. And everyone uses them differently, so to suit themselves. Toaster ovens never caught on like toasters, and I think the reason is because the toaster just defines simplicity. To use an oven metaphor is to over-complicate the situation. Are we doing this with computers?
I should write a piece about that... *g*
Hippie
Reply #4 Friday, July 8, 2005 1:30 PM
Reply #4 Friday, July 8, 2005 1:30 PM
Exactly, over complicate thins. Go buy a calculator and a pad and pencil, and you have a laptop computer. 
GreenReaper
Reply #6 Friday, July 8, 2005 4:01 PM
Reply #6 Friday, July 8, 2005 4:01 PM
I don't want to wait that long either. The obvious solution is to kill everyone over 21 . . . problem solved!
Abanamore
Reply #7 Friday, July 8, 2005 4:38 PM
Reply #7 Friday, July 8, 2005 4:38 PM
That would be all well and good, but theres still is a considerable amount of people out there who were born in the late 80s and 90s who still dont have any basic computer skills. They know enough to use one on their job but ask them what web browser they use and they look like a deer in headlights. I think its going to be our children who's finally is going to be the ones with see an advanced GUI emerge, the only difference is that unlike now where their may be one out of 20 people over sixty who are fluent with computers it may be one out of five then.
starkers
Reply #9 Tuesday, July 12, 2005 10:40 AM
Reply #9 Tuesday, July 12, 2005 10:40 AM
Well I'm of the "so-called" older generation (almost 54) and have been using computers for just on 2 years. Sorry, but my plans are to hang around for a fair few more years yet, and I'm sure there's plenty of other so-called dinosaurs who feel they've still much of value to offer.
Yeah, I still have much to learn, but if new hardware, built around a revolutionary OS were introduced, I'd embrace and learn to use it to expand my horizons and better suit my needs.
Developers don't have to wait until mine or another "old fogey's" passing...and I'm sure they wouldn't. Then again, from underneath the wrinkles, it might just be an old fossil who produces the innovative ideas that young pups are dying to sink their computing teeth into. Age isn't the barrier!
I'm reminded of a young pup who kept telleng me that he couldn't wait for his grandparents to die, because he was the main benaficiary of their Will. Sad that...only afterwards did he realise that his loss was far greater than the gain...all that experience and worldy wisdom was gone.
Yeah, I still have much to learn, but if new hardware, built around a revolutionary OS were introduced, I'd embrace and learn to use it to expand my horizons and better suit my needs.
Developers don't have to wait until mine or another "old fogey's" passing...and I'm sure they wouldn't. Then again, from underneath the wrinkles, it might just be an old fossil who produces the innovative ideas that young pups are dying to sink their computing teeth into. Age isn't the barrier!
I'm reminded of a young pup who kept telleng me that he couldn't wait for his grandparents to die, because he was the main benaficiary of their Will. Sad that...only afterwards did he realise that his loss was far greater than the gain...all that experience and worldy wisdom was gone.
elempoimen
Reply #10 Wednesday, July 13, 2005 7:16 AM
Reply #10 Wednesday, July 13, 2005 7:16 AM
Excellent points, starkers. Not only that, but in a practical sense, how many 20-somethings do you know that have money to sink into development? Very few. The "old fogeys" bankroll the development of the technology we all like so much.
I'm still convinced that a better metaphor--or at least a consistent one--would go a long way toward helping anybody use computers, not just older folks.
I'm still convinced that a better metaphor--or at least a consistent one--would go a long way toward helping anybody use computers, not just older folks.
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Reply #1 Friday, July 8, 2005 11:49 AM