How much longer..

Thu Aug 14 13:42:37 UTC 2003

--- "St. Clair, James" <JStClair at vredenburg.com>
wrote:
> 
>  I've lived in the UK, and never had a license to
> maintain or update the
> engine.

But I bet that you DO have someone maintain the engine
in your car (and so do most people).

> 
> Additionally, I could drive on the M1 or M5 at
> speeds rarely found in the
> US, certainly not legally. You don't get any
> additional training to do this
> - its implied in your licensing. 
> 
> The "computers as cars" analogy applies to
> commoditization of a utility. The
> message is 99% of the world's computer users
> (private and otherwise) view
> their PC/laptop as a "gadget" like their phone or
> TV. They plug it in, they
> turn it on, it works. That is what the expect and is
> all they will
> culturally accept. Placing the burden on the user
> will not work.
> 

But the expectation is there that you will regularly
take your car to a mechanic for various maintenance
which will be nebulously explained by technicians
using words like "bearings," "valves" and "rings."

I believe that the model we need to follow is
something like this - train users that they need to
follow some { simple, quick } process for regular
maintenance, and then make sure that the mechanics are
looking for things which are out of order (i.e. you
brought the car for an oil change, but your air filter
is shot).  This could be an opportunity to say "you
have 4 ad-bots on your computer, which reduce
performance.  do you want them removed?"

-David Barak

=====
David Barak
-fully RFC 1925 compliant-

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