Le mardi 04 Avril 2006 10:55, Moose a écrit :
> Manuel Viet wrote:
> > Le lundi 03 Avril 2006 21:37, ScottGee1 a écrit :
> >> Since I already know that everyone in this august group is highly
> >> proficient at organizing their digital images, here's a nice little
> >> freebie you can suggest to friends and family who are newbies:
> >>
> >> http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1944043,00.asp
> >
> > Wonderful ; take a shiny brand new computer, 4+ GHz, 1GB ram, price to
> > fit, and turn it into a 25$ light table and .20$ shoebox emulation.
>
> Seems a little harsh. If that is all one is doing with the computer, OK,
> But the definition of these PCs and Macs is as general purpose machines,
> designed to do many different computing tasks well. So if somebody is
> using their machine to calculate satelite orbits for planetary probes
> and write great poetry, but also use it to index, view and print their
> digi P&S shots of family and friends, does that somehow make them a fool?
> [...]
> There is a place for less than full blown applications in many areas.
> Fit the tool to the job.
I think I was a bit elliptic ; I'm not criticizing the use of small tools (and
moreover I'm a firm believer in the KISS style of programming). What I've got
an axe to grind with are *dumbed down* tools. Those that (badly) duplicate
the physical world instead of using the computer aptitude to virtuality to
create "better" ways of doing things. If somebody's missing the film roll so
badly, then take back a real film camera, don't turn the computer into a poor
simulation of it.
> > Saving 1 hour of learning from a beginner is _not_ a worthy investment,
> > he'll repay it very soon by a real catastrophic problem costing him ten
> > times this fallacious economy (minimum, it can be much, much more).
>
> Did you look at the link? This is just a simple little index and view
> program. Assuming it's stable, which PC Mag finds it to be, what
> possible harm could it do? I just don't see any catastrophe in the offing .
It bars some people (my mother, for example) from understanding the basics of
file selection, copy, move, rename, the basics of folder organisation,
creation, etc. And in the real world, in the end, your mother calls you twice
a week, and when the call begins by "by the way, as you're knowledgeable in
computers, I wanted to ask you a little something..." ; there, you already
know you're into troubles, and you'll spend next sunday gardening the poor
computer.
> And by the way, it costs nothing, so ten times that is still nothing. :-)
Time is a hefty price to pay, there's always a shortage of it.
--
Manuel Viet
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