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> The guy giving the talk said that their average employee is already confused if some icons on the desktop change and they are very reluctant to accept changes.

This accurately describes my dealings with non-technical people over 50. My parents - now in their late 50s and early 60s - have both worked with computers since the 80s. They worked in the administration of the government and a major bank. Yet they are having a really hard time switching from their previous computer (Windows Vista) to their new one (Windows 7 - I specifically avoided 8 because of the bigger UI changes).

Things like icons being organized differently, bookmarks being missing (how else would you navigate to Facebook or Gmail - the services they use most?) or their homepage changing. Things that seem beyond trivial for us, can pose a significant roadblock for people who didn't grow up with computers all around them.

Forget making fun of people Googling for "facebook" or "gmail" instead of using the simple URLs. A lot of people have a hard time even figuring out they can search for these terms.

Please refrain from making comments about <so and so> people over <so and so> age. If someone is not technical or simply resistant to constant change, that is a reflection of their personality or interest mostly, not their age.

>Please refrain from making comments about <so and so> people over <so and so> age.

He said "This accurately describes my dealings with non-technical people over 50.", not "This accurately describes all people over 50." Nothing wrong with detailing your factual experiences.

Precisely. I have a friend who is 32 and he couldn't create Amazon account on his own. I think certain people actually try hard to block any technical knowledge.

Forget making fun of people Googling for "facebook" or "gmail" instead of using the simple URLs.

I do this all the time actually.

I know a guy, mid-twenties, who if wanting to search for something will type "google" in the chrome address bar, enter, click the top hit, then search from the recognisable google homepage.

It drives me insane.

That is how the internet is supposed to work.

This could be a coping strategy actually. Yahoo japan is notorious for throwing up overlays on their web properties that if accidentally tapped, force your default search engine to yahoo. How do you get back to google if you have no idea where to fix this? just type google. first result.

That's fine if it works for you. I won't judge.

I just mentioned it because I've had several people, both on- and offline, mention it as a symptom of poor technical understanding of how the Internet works. In truth, I think it's more a matter of convenience and habit.

"wiki <your term here>" ;)

I did this as well, but only until I discovered DuckDuckGo.

Every browser I know can use site-specific search engines (or google searches with site: prefixes, whatever) with keywords, giving you the same experience.

To wikipede something, I write "w <something>" into my address bar.

As a bonus I also have tv tropes, a forum I frequent, etc. etc. in there.

Firefox, Opera, yes. But how do you do this in Chromium/Chrome?

As you type it will often suggest the site specific search engine if you've used their search before.

You can also edit the custom search engine list in Chrome's options. I set mine to search Wikipedia on "wiki <term>" and WolframAlpha on "wolf <term>"

It is 2014, not being able to switch between operating system versions should be looked on as illiteracy. Fine, they can't use Ubuntu, whatever. But if our bureaucrats can't have a basic level of technical literacy, then they shouldn't be trusted with our government's data.

I agree, but you have to keep in mind that some of these users are old (Think about the so police stations in small villages or how we call them: "Dorfpolizisten") and they didn't grow up with computers.

It still takes a lot of convincing there especially if there's some kind of "Früher war alles besser" ("Back in the old days everything was better") mentality which isn't uncommon in these parts.

This is unreasonable. Government officials use software they don't write it. Migrating to linux often requires new software to be made or found.

You don't need to be a programmer to be computer literate. I can't program a line of code, and I'm comfortable on any OS, and can learn a new application in under a day. This shouldn't be a special or rare skill, but it really is.

So, how exactly are you going to fire all of those people at the height of their power?

Even if 50 year olds don't "get it", they have something that 20-35 year olds don't -- power and influence within their organizations.

We should never have let it get this far. Computers have been around for 50 years, nobody in the work force today should have thought that they could avoid them.

So yes, after getting 50 year olds to sit down and mess around with a computer for a couple months to see if they can "get" it, they should be let go. We fundamentally hire people to do a job. When they can't effectively utilize technology they are holding back society. It would be better to put them on welfare or to have them transition to a lower tech position. I don't want the local police chief installing some browser spamware and having all the juvie records leaked.

Personal computers came later. I remember in the mid nineties when I was in my teens and bought my first PC. I was one of the few people in the village to have a PC.

I imagine that people in their 40's and above got acquainted with computers in office settings when they were already adult. Adult non-geeks can be very resistant to change, especially repeated one.

A significant number of these people are probably Beamte[1], letting them go is not a possibility.

[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beamter

It's clear from reading the comments people are making about older people shows that being technical does not aid one's level of wisdom.

The "Landeskriminalamt" is on the state-level, it's not part of the city of Munich.

That's some solid Bavarian Beamtentum entrenchment on the part of these users.