Tales from the front

By Robert Churchwell

Chief Financial Officer

new, reasonably fast computer costs about $2,000 these days; a laptop computer of the same speed can easily cost twice as much. Most people will agree that this is a fairly good-sized chunk of money. Yet most people with a new computer have no idea how to use it. This never ceases to amaze me. When someone drops down two grand for a down payment on a car, they are rarely as ignorant about the product they are purchasing. No, I don't expect everyone to be able to take their car apart and overhaul the engine, but I do expect most people to know how to drive it. Similarly, while I don't expect the average personal computer user to be able to install a motherboard, I do expect them to be able to operate some of the basic functions on their computer.

I work at the Student Computing Center here, and I am constantly in awe of how little most people know about their PC's. I once answered a caller who was having networking problems. I asked him what kind of computer he had, but he wasn't sure. I asked him if it was a Macintosh or Windows95 machine, and again he wasn't sure. Through some further questioning, I managed to divine that he had a Macintosh. I asked him what kind of Macintosh he had, but of course, he didn't know. I then asked him to look on the computer for something along the lines of "PowerPC 7200/120," because all Macs have their model name written on the CPU. I told him that we wouldn't be able to help him until we knew what kind of computer he had; he thanked me and hung up. Many people have heard the tech support story of the woman who believed her CD-ROM drive to be a cup-holder.

If this seems reasonable to you, then let me again work with my little car metaphor. Most people tend to know the model and often the year of their car, although I'm sure there are mechanics who have had experience to prove otherwise. I'm sorry, but even if you are the most technophobic person in the world, I don't see any excuse for not knowing at least what kind of computer you have. I'm going to let you all in on a little 'techie' secret. None of the basic and even the intermediate functions of a computer really require any sort of applied knowledge. It is all memorization, and not much at that. Now that all standard consumer computers use a graphical user interface, you don't even have to remember the esoteric commands of DOS or UNIX. If you can remember historical facts, if you can speak a foreign language, then you can operate a computer. With MacOS and Windows95, nearly every function executed with a mouse. On a Macintosh, that mouse has only one button. Everything you need is presented in a logical tree structure through the start menu or the finder.

A friend of mine came up to me the other day and told me that he had managed to fix his computer all by himself with one of the computer technicians talking him through it over the phone. He asked me if I was proud of him, and quite frankly I was. Every time I help someone I try to give them some idea of what I'm doing, so maybe, with a little luck they could do it themselves if necessary.

But I am still vexed by most people. The people who wouldn't have the slightest clue how to change their oil, jumpstart their car, or save a file to disk. I don't think they're stupid, in fact I know some brilliant people who know nothing about computers. But I know that if they put a little bit of time into it, they could do for themselves what they instead have to pay someone $67.50 to do for them.