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I'd go a step further again and say that GUI's are why people have no idea how to use computers anymore. A file is a concept the average user is becoming less f
by flukus 9y ago
I'd go a step further again and say that GUI's are why people have no idea how to use computers anymore. A file is a concept the average user is becoming less familiar with, directories of files have almost disappeared entirely for them. The idea that you could manipulate an image in a paint program and have it updated in your word document is black magic, so tools like word and excel have to do everything they need.
A story I've told before is my mum and the software that comes with her digital camera. This software is everything to her, if she want to back up the pictures she uses this software, if she want to print them she uses this software, she has no idea that the individual photos are just files on a disk. So what happens when she get's a new camera from a different manufacturer? Her knowledge is back to square one and she has to relearn all over again, this is what infantalising users has lead to.
- DonaldFisk 9y agoPeople know how to use computers just fine. Very few people need to know how the programs they use are implemented, or even the data structures they use. For most people nowadays, computers are for playing games, sending and receiving mail, watching videos, reading the news, shopping, and organizing your photograph collection. You don't need to know how to program to use a modern computer. Also, whether photographs or anything else use files stored in hierarchical directories is a historical accident. There are alternatives to file systems. For example, Squeak doesn't have files, hierarchically organized or otherwise, just persistent objects. EROS also took that approach.
- collyw 9y agoA file is just an abstraction at the end of the day. The hardware knows little more about a file than an ignorant iPhone user.