> From: Roger Clarke
> Did you like the NSW Labor MPs explanation about having been a
> trained programmer and IT manager in the 1980s, but being a clueless
> user now? Admittedly it was an attempt to escape the gallows over
> the apparent insider-hacking in the NSW Parliament; but it was more
> credible than most things pollies say!
I can believe it in principle. I have been helping (via a painful chat
connection) a relative in the UK whose livelihood is being a contract Visual
Basic programmer. Judging by her client list, she is good at her work and
she drives a BMW. :-) I was helping her to set up an ftp program and to
maintain her web site. I was amazed at her apparent ignorance of binary vs
ASCII files in this situation. At another time, I noticed a similar
difficulty in grasping how a mail filter worked. OK, she learnt quickly,
but it is easy to assume that fellow computer enthusiasts know everything we
consider to be essential knowledge.
- Ash
(who administered a PDP 11/34 in the mid 80s)
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.1 : Fri Aug 31 2001 - 03:10:03 EST