I  very much  sympathize, empathize,  with Bayla  Singer and  her feeling
about  having to  deal with  computers and  computer professionals.  I am
always intimidated  by their  apparent superiority. Like  Bayla, I  do my
homework and  I try to understand  the systems that I  use. Nevertheless,
much of what I am doing remains a mystery to me and , when something goes
wrong, I have no way to fix it. Not only that, when something goes wrong,
I frequently  find myself ill-equipped  with the necessary  vocabulary to
explain to computer professionals what it is that Is going wrong and what
it is that I want.
 
Now, this is  not all the fault of  people like Bayla and me.  We are the
end users and without us there  would be no computer professionals. It is
the end  users who provide the  jobs for computer professionals,  not the
other way round. So I feel that  it behooves most systems people to spend
less time belittling  the ignorant (but willing-to-learn)  user, and more
time being helpful.
 
I used  to be a  macro economist and spent  my life working  with obscure
models and  concepts, just as obscure  and arcane as anything  a computer
person can come  up with. Yet, I  do not recall my colleagues  or me ever
delighting in the  humiliation or obstruction of the users  of our charts
and models.  The true  professional is  someone who can  do the  work and
apply it to real  life in a usable way. This is  true in all disciplines,
as far as I am concerned.
 
It is user demand that drives computers,  not the other way round. So the
user should be treated with respect and consideration simply for "market"
reasons even if plain courtesy is not enough of a reason.
 
Peace, Anthea Tillyer ABTHC@CUNYVM City University of New York