5 ms·

> Computers are seldom privately owned – they are considered essentially communal rather than personal This struck me as true of most people's use of computers

> Computers are seldom privately owned – they are considered essentially communal rather than personal This struck me as true of most people's use of computers now. Almost everyone I know who isn't either an old fashioned developer or a gamer uses a mobile phone or tablet merely as a graphical terminal; the actual computer is some mysterious entity elsewhere on the Net. The golden age of computing when 'everyone' had one of their own that was useable offline is now long past.

entropicdrifter 4y ago
I wouldn't say it's "long past", but rather in its last gasps outside of niche hobbyist communities. There are plenty of people whose primary computer use is still local, they're just considered old-fashioned
beardog 4y ago
Likewise Gen Z and Alpha are not very technical. Many teens and 20 somethings have a hard time with seemingly basic tasks like finding files. As a 20 something myself, my public school did not offer any 'technical' courses beyond office programs and keyboarding.
- brokenmachine 4y ago
  In fairness, modern mobile devices seem to be determined to make how the filesystem works as opaque as possible.
  - Karrot_Kream 4y ago
    Files and folders are based on a metaphor applying to paper-based organizational systems. People used to have typewriter printouts that they used to mark up by pen and place into folders, then file away into filing cabinets. Is there really a need for a filesystem other than in the vestiges of what we consider an operating system?
    - Dalewyn 4y ago
      This. The "files and folders" metaphor never worked even in the heyday of computer literacy, most people never understood it and just dumped all their crap on the desktop. Seeing as the metaphor did not, does not, and will not work it is only reasonable that personal computing is slowly moving away from it and towards something the users actually want: One singular place to store everything (and I mean everything) and a one-stop quick way to find something in there, organization be damned. Email is perhaps one of the earliest manifestations of this user desire: Everything goes in the one singular Inbox, and you search for whatever mail you need.
      - brokenmachine 4y ago
        I prefer being able to find stuff. Tags or folders, I don't care. But I need some kind of organization. A giant pile with a crappy search box that hardly works does not cut it.
        Dalewyn 4y ago
        >Tags or folders, I don't care. My point exactly. The people who cry that the young today can't file-and-folder fail to understand bloody nobody, neither young nor old, cares for file-and-folder.
        Dylan16807 4y ago
        The problem is that mobile devices lack competent tagging on most things and don't let you organize with folders either. And folders are a very simple concept. If you can't handle them on a system that uses them, that's bad.
        Dalewyn 4y ago
        >And folders are a very simple concept. If you can't handle them on a system that uses them, that's bad. Simple to us. I've seen accountants, aka people who deal with files and folders as a matter of their god damn line of work, fail to understand or care for files and folders in computers. They still put everything on the desktop. Fact of the matter is people do not care for files-and-folders. It's high time we admit most people do not want it, do not care for it, and just want to store everything in one place with an easy one-stop way to find what they want. Most people don't care about file systems, and both iOS and Android are right for abstracting away something nobody cares about.
- moffkalast 4y ago
  Each generation consists of roughly 90% of people who are completely clueless about anything computer related. Those of us that work in the field usually can't even conceive of it but it's true.
  - beardog 4y ago
    Indeed, you could say the same about cars and plumbing too (with some variation in %). People tend to think younger people are automatically 'good at computers' though.

entropicdrifter 4y ago

I wouldn't say it's "long past", but rather in its last gasps outside of niche hobbyist communities. There are plenty of people whose primary computer use is still local, they're just considered old-fashioned

beardog 4y ago

Likewise Gen Z and Alpha are not very technical. Many teens and 20 somethings have a hard time with seemingly basic tasks like finding files. As a 20 something myself, my public school did not offer any 'technical' courses beyond office programs and keyboarding.

brokenmachine 4y ago
In fairness, modern mobile devices seem to be determined to make how the filesystem works as opaque as possible.
- Karrot_Kream 4y ago
  Files and folders are based on a metaphor applying to paper-based organizational systems. People used to have typewriter printouts that they used to mark up by pen and place into folders, then file away into filing cabinets. Is there really a need for a filesystem other than in the vestiges of what we consider an operating system?
  - Dalewyn 4y ago
    This. The "files and folders" metaphor never worked even in the heyday of computer literacy, most people never understood it and just dumped all their crap on the desktop. Seeing as the metaphor did not, does not, and will not work it is only reasonable that personal computing is slowly moving away from it and towards something the users actually want: One singular place to store everything (and I mean everything) and a one-stop quick way to find something in there, organization be damned. Email is perhaps one of the earliest manifestations of this user desire: Everything goes in the one singular Inbox, and you search for whatever mail you need.
    - brokenmachine 4y ago
      I prefer being able to find stuff. Tags or folders, I don't care. But I need some kind of organization. A giant pile with a crappy search box that hardly works does not cut it.
      - Dalewyn 4y ago
        >Tags or folders, I don't care. My point exactly. The people who cry that the young today can't file-and-folder fail to understand bloody nobody, neither young nor old, cares for file-and-folder.
        Dylan16807 4y ago
        The problem is that mobile devices lack competent tagging on most things and don't let you organize with folders either. And folders are a very simple concept. If you can't handle them on a system that uses them, that's bad.
        Dalewyn 4y ago
        >And folders are a very simple concept. If you can't handle them on a system that uses them, that's bad. Simple to us. I've seen accountants, aka people who deal with files and folders as a matter of their god damn line of work, fail to understand or care for files and folders in computers. They still put everything on the desktop. Fact of the matter is people do not care for files-and-folders. It's high time we admit most people do not want it, do not care for it, and just want to store everything in one place with an easy one-stop way to find what they want. Most people don't care about file systems, and both iOS and Android are right for abstracting away something nobody cares about.
moffkalast 4y ago
Each generation consists of roughly 90% of people who are completely clueless about anything computer related. Those of us that work in the field usually can't even conceive of it but it's true.
- beardog 4y ago
  Indeed, you could say the same about cars and plumbing too (with some variation in %). People tend to think younger people are automatically 'good at computers' though.