I was speaking to someone earlier today who mentioned that he was considering buying a computer. He was of the older generation, and was very confused by the jargon, and even the basic concepts of computers.
This is, sadly, typical of people who haven’t used computers before. They are, in a way, scared off by the jargon and are so utterly confused that they end up never using a computer.
The reason is that they are sold without any explanation, as if intended to boggle the buyer. I witnessed someone in a branch of Currys.digital (their formatting, not mine) who was asking about a computer. The assistant nonchalantly went up to each computer in succession, saying their specifications almost robotically. “This one… one gig ram… Vista home premium… 1.8 gig dual core 64-bit CPU… I’ll take your credit card number…” (OK, I made the last bit up.) Either way, the potential buyer looked bewildered, and I think he left the shop having not bought anything.
One could argue that PC books provide help for users who are inexperienced. I find them to be quite patronising a lot of the time. True, there’s books like PCs for Dummies (Dan Gookin, published by John Wiley) which are excellent in that they inform readers and also throw in a dash of humour at the same time, but then there’s other things.
Like Computers for the Over 50s and PCs for Seniors. I find it confusing as to why the seniors need a separate ‘beginner’s computing’ book to the rest of the population: they generally speak the same language as the general population and are no less intelligent. True, they tend to be less proficient with computers, but patronising your audience is the worst thing to do in a book.
I am bewildered as to why there aren’t guides available that will teach the user how their computer works, what sort of computer to choose and exactly how to operate it. There should be tutorial videos and DVDs available, explaining the jargon in laymen’s terms so that people can make informed decisions about what sort of computer to choose, and how to use it afterwards.
