Some people should not own computers

[Rerouter]

google at times relies on someone going word for word with you, in a particular case, a song lyric had about 25 la's e.g la la la la , la la
i spaced it with commas from what i heard and lo and behold another internet user had asked it as a question in the same format,

More recently google has become very cumbersome to use, with all its promoted links, and radically falls off topic by the 3rd page, where as say go back 4 years if i was determined enough i was still digging up gold by the 50th page, if this keeps up i'm likely to jump ship to a dumber search engine, where if i specifically type out something, then i'm ok with synonyms, but not flat out ignoring everything but the word that will get the most hits, even less happy when i have to deliberately mis-spell words to get hits to scoot around googles filters, or pop culture references...

On the up side google caching generally allows one to see past a large number of invite only and paywall sites, as you see what there bot sees,

[tggzzz]

People think it's pretty cool when I can google stuff and come up with relevant information most of the time. Honestly, Googling takes practice. It amazes me how often people are incredibly verbose with google and expect it to come up with what they want. Google doesn't understand english, it understands search terms... though that gap is getting ever smaller.

period1: Search engines didn't work well, and there was not much information on internet. Getting the info you wanted, was very difficult.

period2: Search engines were optimalised, and there was much info on internet. Getting the info you wanted, became very easy.

period3: Search engines were made profitable, and there was too much info of all kinds on internet. Getting the info you wanted became very difficult.

period4: search engines de-emphasise the useful stuff that doesn't change over time, and emphasis the ephemeral stuff that nobody will care about in 6 months. Yes google, I'm looking at you

[Timmay]

People think it's pretty cool when I can google stuff and come up with relevant information most of the time. Honestly, Googling takes practice. It amazes me how often people are incredibly verbose with google and expect it to come up with what they want. Google doesn't understand english, it understands search terms... though that gap is getting ever smaller.

period1: Search engines didn't work well, and there was not much information on internet. Getting the info you wanted, was very difficult.

period2: Search engines were optimalised, and there was much info on internet. Getting the info you wanted, became very easy.

period3: Search engines were made profitable, and there was too much info of all kinds on internet. Getting the info you wanted became very difficult.

Yes, this is where the term "Google Foo" comes from. Some people have not been privileged to watch the internet grow from the BBS era. Terms most internet users who think they are savvy have never heard of: ICQ, Quake, mIRC, BBS, Hyperlinks, cyberspace, AOL, Prodigy, Tripod, Warez, <blink>, and the list goes on. Point being, some of us are privileged to have watched the internet grow some are not. That isn't to say you should or shouldn't help it just means some people are always going to be internet noobs, and if you can help them you should. If not, oh well.

[SL4P]

People think it's pretty cool when I can google stuff and come up with relevant information most of the time. Honestly, Googling takes practice. It amazes me how often people are incredibly verbose with google and expect it to come up with what they want. Google doesn't understand english, it understands search terms... though that gap is getting ever smaller.

period1: Search engines didn't work well, and there was not much information on internet. Getting the info you wanted, was very difficult.

period2: Search engines were optimalised, and there was much info on internet. Getting the info you wanted, became very easy.

period3: Search engines were made profitable, and there was too much info of all kinds on internet. Getting the info you wanted became very difficult.

period4: search engines de-emphasise the useful stuff that doesn't change over time, and emphasis the ephemeral stuff that nobody will care about in 6 months. Yes google, I'm looking at you

Period 2a: When jerks realised with the advent of period 2, you could cause chaos by putting all sorts of false hooks on the net - and letting computer illiterates believe hem to be true.

[Dave Turner]

The original subject reminds me of the, probably apocryphal, story about the help desk operative who received a call from a user complaining that their computer didn't work. (The following is reduced to the bare minimum.)

After patiently attempting to locate the source of the issue the operative asked the user to confirm whether or not the power cord had become dislodged. The user replied that that would be difficult because there was insufficient light as there was a power cut, and asked what they should do now.

The operative suggested that the user should return the computer and ask for a refund as they were clearly too stupid to own one!

[dannyf]

they were clearly too stupid to own one!

That, sadly, is how the elitists of our societies look at the rest of us.

[SL4P]

they were clearly too stupid to own one!

That, sadly, is how the elitists of our societies look at the rest of us.

Darwin was here

[SeanB]

I had that where a person complained that she could not print, and had sent around 400 jobs into the server spooler, around 100 per printer that was attached to her computer.  The laser printers are not connected to the UPS that her computer is attached to, so of course they would not print. She was totally unaware that computers and printers needed electricity to work, she could not connect the idea that the switch on the wall that turns on the lights is actually also connected to the printer and the computer as well.

[miguelvp]

...The laser printers are not connected to the UPS that her computer is attached to...

Well, at least she had the sense not to plug the printer on the UPS, that will most likely reboot her computer every time she tried to print

[SeanB]

That would be beyond her ability. She can plug in a cellphone charger, but if the switch on the plug is off she has no idea. Her knowledge of electricity is a bill she moans about every month, then goes and turns on all lights in the whole house when she gets home and leaves them on till bedtime.  Changing bulbs is a task for the hubby, and plugging in anything other than a kettle is not doable. Ironing is done by the maid, who has a clue.

[victor]

I totally relate to that post, I'm sick tired of people knocking my door to repair their precious pcs, or people that I don't see in years text me to ask for favors.

Computers are just too complicated for some people.
I think there must be a market for a simple unit that just does basic web & email, with all the software on read-only media , so no possibility of viruses etc.

I don't want to be an Apple fanboy but this device is an iPad, I have 3 cousins that use iPads since the were 4 years old and could barely talk right, I know 2 elders that own one as well and just use it on daily basis. iOS is as best as it gets for the main public, one app per task, no configuration, no viruses...

[HighVoltage]

This reminds me of
Medieval helpdesk with English subtitles



Or the English version

Several times I felt like that

[madires]

I don't want to be an Apple fanboy but this device is an iPad, I have 3 cousins that use iPads since the were 4 years old and could barely talk right, I know 2 elders that own one as well and just use it on daily basis. iOS is as best as it gets for the main public, one app per task, no configuration, no viruses...

Let's say it's less malware. There are viruses and trojans for iOS too, but much less than for Windows. But there's another threat regarding privacy. A lot of apps scan for personal data, GPS location, phone numbers, email addresses and what have you and send the data to some server. I doubt most users know about that.

[victor]

I don't want to be an Apple fanboy but this device is an iPad, I have 3 cousins that use iPads since the were 4 years old and could barely talk right, I know 2 elders that own one as well and just use it on daily basis. iOS is as best as it gets for the main public, one app per task, no configuration, no viruses...

Let's say it's less malware. There are viruses and trojans for iOS too, but much less than for Windows. But there's another threat regarding privacy. A lot of apps scan for personal data, GPS location, phone numbers, email addresses and what have you and send the data to some server. I doubt most users know about that.

There are no virus, but there are scam apps, but the average user does not download apps regulary, so this is not a big deal, they will probably download one of the very popular app. Let's not get into the privacy issue, that exist in all platforms even banks and stores that sell your personal info, at least iOS give you some control over which apps are trying to access. Facebook and Google can gather so much information about you independent of OS.

[wraper]

This reminds me of
Medieval helpdesk with English subtitles



Or the English version

Several times I felt like that

Stumbled to another support video.

[victor]

I don't want to be an Apple fanboy but this device is an iPad, I have 3 cousins that use iPads since the were 4 years old and could barely talk right, I know 2 elders that own one as well and just use it on daily basis. iOS is as best as it gets for the main public, one app per task, no configuration, no viruses...

Let's say it's less malware. There are viruses and trojans for iOS too, but much less than for Windows. But there's another threat regarding privacy. A lot of apps scan for personal data, GPS location, phone numbers, email addresses and what have you and send the data to some server. I doubt most users know about that.

There are no virus, but there are scam apps, but the average user does not download apps regulary, so this is not a big deal, they will probably download one of the very popular app. Let's not get into the privacy issue, that exist in all platforms even banks and stores that sell your personal info, at least iOS give you some control over which apps are trying to access. Facebook and Google can gather so much information about you independent of OS.

[HighVoltage]

Stumbled to another support video.

This is my favorite tech support video.
Old but still very good:

The Website Is Down - Sales Guy vs. Web Dude