Do we somehow fail the dumb accountant or 80 year gma with cars because they can't just get in and drive without learning how to drive?
I think we need to start very early. There should be more mandatory comouter science and information security classes at schools because we are all confronted with these topics everyday.
Most people can work systems such as washing machines, vacuum cleaners and so on, the problems arise when the internet (or other forms of connectability) comes into the picture. But the reality is that most such systems will probably soon be connected in some way, so the challenge grows.
So I think it is very important that we push for more information/education instead of going into the direction of more locked down, closed off and proprietary systems because these can easily "not respect" the end user.
I think we need to all realize that most people aren't cut out for computer science, per se, but most people are cut out to learn to responsibly use a computer.
As a matter of fact though, the same people do _not_ use computers responsibly. What do you do, then? Metaphorically jail them?
There are lots of areas where as humans, it's easy to reach a "sufficient" level, _and_ the dangers of an insufficiency are well known. Punishments or strict measures just don't work.
Everybody knows that they can be sufficiently and with little effort fit, but especially, that unsufficient fitness leads to sicknesses and earlier death. In this sense, which punishment can be worse? Yet, this doesn't work.
It’s like we’ve given every Tom, Dick and Harry a F1 supercar then we blame them when they crash the thing. The mistake is ours for not making better security models. Desktop apps should be sandboxed by default, and isolated like we isolate phone apps. For all the justifiable fear people have about apple’s control over what software can run on their machines, I think the app sandboxing and signing security model they’re working towards is the right one for 95% of computer users.
They don't understand the concept of files as separate from applications. They just don't. They understand the concept of sharing -- that seems to be intuitive enough -- but not of files as objects in themselves.
A system which works this way would, of course, be completely rage-inducing to myself.
Leaning to driving is not the correct analogy. Almost everyone can use a mouse or a touch screen to operate a computer.