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Comment by hughprime | Hacker News Reader

Worthless list. All over the place, from "non-IT people don't understand that the screen isn't the computer" (Really? How many people are still confused about that?) to "non-IT people don't understand how to set up a network" (yep, I have trouble with that one too).

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I strongly disagree. I've dealt with most of these questions at one time or another in recent years, and a Whole lot more 8 years back when I was in IT.

Some people still think shutting off the monitor means shutting off the computer - even in the case of a flat screen. I've seen this at least 5 times this year alone.

As a web developer the browser issue is the biggest and most consistent for me.

The fact that you don't think these differences still exist perfectly defines the purpose of this list.

Some people still think shutting off the monitor means shutting off the computer

Heh. I had this problem with my mom who could never understand that she could record on her VCR even if the TV was off. Or tuned to another channel.

I had an elderly lady who got a new computer, then called me about a week later because it was broken and wouldn't turn on. When I went over to check it I pushed the power button and it came on just fine.

"How did you do that?" she asked.

"I just pushed the power button. This button down here turns the computer on and off."

"But I always just pushed a button on the keyboard and it turned on."

And then I realized that she had never turned her computer off, only put it to sleep, for five years.

I want to live where there are no power disruptions for 5 years.

At least the trains always run on time.

My grandmom categorically refused to undress in rooms with the TV on, the theory being that if she could see them, they might be able to see her.

We never did manage to convince her...

You actively tried to convince your grandmother to undress in places she didn't want to?

Haha, no, it came up in conversation and we tried to explain that the TV, even when it's on is strictly one-way. She didn't believe a word of it.

I was waiting for a much more saucy version of your response after I realized there was some context missing ;)

Hey this is HN, not Something Awful :-)

Pretty much every other part of 1984 has come true somewhere or other, why not that?

Actually, that works for speakers -- since most speakers for a computer are designed in a manner that is identical to a means of designing a microphone (just with some of the dimensions altered for quality of sound, et cetera). I'm not so sure a similar principle would work for, say, an LCD monitor or CRT.

It definitely does not work for an LCD monitor or a CRT, I can guarantee you that.

You're right about the loudspeaker and the microphone example though, since in the most common cases loudspeakers are electromagnetic devices that convert electricity to air pressure in front of a cone, and vice versa.

In fact, almost every piece of electronics can function as a microphone (Coils, capacitors and so on), I built transmitters a long time ago and the measures you have to take to get rid of spurious microphony are pretty draconian.

The problems mentioned are huge in the over-30, non-tech crowd. I worked IT in college, and the skills of professors and admins older than 35 were much worse than the average English major in a computer lab.

They viewed the machine as a Magic Box that let them type documents and browse the web and sometimes crashed if they angered it. Some needed help getting CDs out of the tray. Some didn't know that "check if it is plugged in" is a troubleshooting step. Some were very superstitious about crashes ("don't move the monitor!" was my favorite).

If you don't see anyone struggling with these concepts, well, I haven't since I got a programming job 3 years ago. They didn't stop having problems, I just don't see the problems anymore. Always watch out for selection bias: the set of "people you know" isn't representative of the population at large

And that's the point of this list.

One can argue against some or all of it's points, but overall message is unarguable.

We are not our own target group. It's very difficult to look at website using mindeset of these people.

Sometimes superstitious things like moving the monitor come to very rational causes. There can be a loose connection that tightens with monitor's pressure or an electrical leak prevented with that particular positioning of it.

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