Yes.  Education is a tricky issue.  We have many people who have been at the University for decades.  They've moved from typewriters through IBM terminals and now through a couple of generations of desktop PCs and operating systems.  When I was doing desktop support I did my best to explain such details to them.  Some learned.  Some did not.  I had to recognize that some people are just barely coping with the idea that they are working on a computer.  All they can handle is a strictly defined sequence of operations.  For some of them, a program not automatically launching when they start their computer sends them into a bone fide panic attack.

This makes it much more difficult to support them.  That is very true.  Some people who drive cars can only handle the fact that they have to put gas in and that they should occassionally take it to a magician at a garage so that he can do some sort of jiggery pokery to it to keep it running.

I, who does understand, just have to work a little harder to support them.  Sometimes it really sucks, but that's why I am here: to support them.

John

At 12:19 PM 2/16/01 -0500, Paul Karagianis wrote:
>On 16 Feb 2001, at 15:52, Warhurst, SI (Spencer) wrote:
>
>>The downside, of course, is that when
>>something does go wrong the users have not got the technical knowledge to
>>understand & explain what happened, and you could argue that if they did
>>understand what went wrong they are half-way towards fixing it themselves!
>
>The distinction may lie in the cultural attitude.  The above could just
>as easily apply to going to the doctor.  If the user does it to themselves
>eg: downloads a piece of crap (pc) or consumes contaminated dope (body)
>both help desks/triage screens can expect a certain degree of non-candor.
>The difference manifests itself in recognition of the problem.  "You're
>overweight with high blood pressure and need to diet" is understood.  "Your
>hard-disk is full and you need to delete some GIF's" often gets some answer
>like "I'm not a computer guru, could you do it for me" or my personal
>favorite "could you say that again in plain English?".
>
>                                      -Kary

--
John W. Luther
Systems Administrator
Computing and Information Services
University of Missouri - Rolla

"If a man achieves or suffers change in premises which are deeply
embedded in his mind, he will surely find that the results of that
change will ramify throughout his whole universe." Gregory Bateson