If this laptop is so portable, where's the keyboard, huh? HUH? Welcome again to On-Call, in which The Register tries to liven up Fridays with reader-contributed stories of tech support traumas. This week, meet "Norman" who just last year took a frankly astounding support call at the law firm where he then worked. "One of my users called to complain about her upgrade from an old desktop …
There is a trope in the law where lawyers feel all they have to know about is the law. Everything else is fed to them by juniors for individual cases, put in working memory for a while then forgotten. They are defiantly ignorant and proud of it.
I remember an older female lab head who, this century was forced by the march of time to upgrade her computer. Her collection of 4" floppies, actually floppy had to be transferred for her. I think she was on Lotus notes and had to learn Word. We felt for her. We tried to persuade her it would be the same learning curve to get a Mac like the rest of the lab had (and all the equipment, microscopes etc) but she wasn't brave enough. The devil you know.
"Doctors are the same way. God forbid you ask the bastard to have to log in. And remember a password. And all that complicated computer stuff."
My GP was the one who agitated for the health trust to use Linux, the one who periodically has to get into the router to disable the parental protection because some numpty in the outsourced IT department keeps trying to set the routers up as for schools. He also trains other GPs.
Yah know, to listen to you guys, you'd think the only stuff worth knowing was computer stuff, and anyone who doesn't understand computer stuff must automatically be, like, yah know, an idiot, and computer guys are gods who know everything that's worth knowing.
Do we really have to deride others because they don't know what we know? There are lots of things that we don't know too and we are probably being mocked right now by people who know the stuff that we don't. You want to be better people? Then stop doing what they are doing and stop mocking them...if you don't then you're just as dumb...Or, no one is dumb and we are just all the same; we know some stuff and everything else is a mystery. The superior people are those that do not mock because they know that together we know everything, and apart we know bugger all.
"Do we really have to deride others..."
YES. Oh yes, we absolutely do. Not knowing how the Carnot cycle applies to your car's engine is a non-issue unless you're the one designing the damned thing. But if your work involves driving yet you can't tell me how many pedals are in your car so you need a chauffeur to get around, I'll laugh you out of existence without the slightest bit of remorse.
"Not knowing how the Carnot cycle applies to your car's engine is a non-issue unless you're the one designing the damned thing."
Especially as cars tend to run on Otto or Diesel cycles. A car trying to run on the Carnot cycle would be very slow indeed due to the extremely low power to weight ratio of Carnot cycle engines.
What is important is knowing the key interfaces between different areas of technology. If you want to use a laptop you need to know how to use a laptop, the most basic fault finding, and how to use the programs you'll be running. The same with cars. The problem comes with all the people who want to get by without having to learn the essential interfaces, because they don't see why they "should" have to.
You've evidently never seen a car modified for someone that *can't* use the standard foot controls & has to use hand controls instead.
It's amusing as hell to watch the look on some attempted car theif's face when they get in & realize there's no bloody peddles.
"What the fuck? How the hell am I supposed to drive it if there's no peddles? What kind of piece of shit IS this thing?"
It's not a piece of shit, it's been made accessible to someone for whom a wheelchair is a requirement.
My ex GF had such a car due to her spina biffida. She couldn't walk, but she could still drive using the hand controls. She never bothered to lock her car since 99% of the car theives out there "wouldn't have a fuckin' clue". And she was right, her car finally got stolen by some inventive bastard, only to get recovered a couple of streets away as they had been unable to manage a simple traffic circle.
So don't berate someone for assuming a car "has" to have foot peddles at all, that's not always the case.
Now go enjoy a pint on me, I'll be the guy in the corner playing Pole Position on the sit down arcade game. =-)p
I suppose if you haven't used a coffee shop, pub/bar during daylight hours or train, watched very little TV, only watched 20+ year old films you might just have missed seeing a laptop in use. We'd probably be too busy wondering how you accidentally fell into our century to deride anything ;)
Yah know, to listen to you guys, you'd think the only stuff worth knowing was computer stuff, and anyone who doesn't understand computer stuff must automatically be, like, yah know, an idiot, and computer guys are gods who know everything that's worth knowing.
Dear Geoffrey,
Please scroll up to the top of this page. Now read out what it says in the red rectangle, under the big word "Register".
It says "Biting the hand that feeds IT".
That's what this site is about.
Come back when you understand that.
"Yah know, to listen to you guys, you'd think the only stuff worth knowing was computer stuff, and anyone who doesn't understand computer stuff must automatically be, like, yah know, an idiot, and computer guys are gods who know everything that's worth knowing."
I drive a car. I don't do it for a living and it's a long time since I was able to do stuff like take the head off and reseat the valves (MGBs were nice to work on). Nevertheless I need to know where all the controls are and what they do. I also need to know which side of the road to drive on, what the various road signs etc. mean.
Back in the day I used to be a laboratory scientist. I needed to know things like how to set up a microscope, how to balance the tubes in a centrifuge etc.
In short, I, like everyone else need to know enough (NB enough, not everything) about the tools I use to be able to use them. Why should it be different when the tool in question is a computer, especially when it's being used as part of one's job?
I did a partial rebuild of the 1.4i (Citroën TU3JP4) in my car(new headgasket, two new cylinder sleeves, piston rings, big-end bearings, and even reseated the valves.) a while ago. Then replaced the rear axle assembly and recently swapped out the old clutch(full kit).
I there's an instruction book around I can probably fix it.
I think... I still haven't fixed the old PFAFF sewing machine I rescued at the dump.
(It just needs a thorough clean and adjusting. I have found a service manual, but then there's the time... )
Do we really have to deride others because they don't know what we know? There are lots of things that we don't know too and we are probably being mocked right now by people who know the stuff that we don't.
You know, every time when I'm visiting another company I always get laughed at by the receptionists when I pick up the pen and try to insert it into my ear, whilst simultaneously staring at the signing in book. When I ask them why their optical scanner doesn't work they all fall out of their chairs laughing.
Well, one day the joke will be on them I tell you!
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The basic problem is that when humans get into a position of power, lawyers, doctors or politicians and the very rich they all gradually assume that they are right - always right and cam do whatever they want.
Hence the behaviour described here and also the failure of communism and now democracy. Both might have worked except for the fact that those who got to the top became unhinged and totally self absorbed.
If we want to get the world stable we need to address this issue. For politics one possibility is shorter maximum terms. The complaint is that that does not give them time to get things done - precisely.
'"Doctors are the same way. God forbid you ask the bastard to have to log in. And remember a password. And all that complicated computer stuff."
'My GP was the one who agitated for the health trust to use Linux, the one who periodically has to get into the router to disable the parental protection because some numpty in the outsourced IT department keeps trying to set the routers up as for schools. He also trains other GPs.'
I feel like being anonymous today... some medics are very tech savvy, after all, you need to be intelligent to qualify (or at least demonstrate a good memory), others less so because they rely on other people to do everything for them. I know of one who runs a home server and one who would tell everyone in their office their password as an alternative to remembering it.
"My GP was the one who agitated for the health trust to use Linux"
My GP and I discuss the security aspects of smart card logins, the relative merits of various keyboard types and how cheap ones can make your hands hurt like hell due to the lack of cushioning at the end of keyboard travel (the relevance of this being that the NHS was supplying the cheapest possible keyboards for a while and staff were suffering joint problems)
We even arranged shootouts of a bunch of models so that people could feel the differences. It killed the "A keyboard is a keyboard is a keyboard" arguments. (No, you don't need to spend £200, but a £14 Cherry G80 keyboard is far more comfortable and has a longer service life than a £3 Logitech one.)
Totally agree with your three - I'm in a job with all three of these groups....
I'd also throw in small mon&mom shops like booksellers who can squeeze a nickel down to a micron of its worth. I've wired many a shop and installed software/hardware and felt like I was ripping off their livelihood by even presenting an invoice. Getting paid in used remaindered books is not a fair trade.
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Really. Realy??? Most of the doctors in the NHS aren't really any good? How do you know? Are you extrapolating from more than one instance?
My life and my partner's life have both been saved by GPs and hospital doctors. In my partner's case, it was a very non-obvious case of sepsis, and they worked like dogs to save her for three weeks, and did.
I cannot buy that 'most doctors' can't doctor. That is simply ignorant.
I've seen him & his staff. The computers in the rooms are _not_ left logged on (most likely due to HIPPA laws). My doctor has _no_ trouble logging in and taking notes. He can even touch type! And, best of all, he's a really good doctor! Well, he's kept me going for quite a few years.
But only a few drives were ever sold back then, and even if the user in question actually DID use it, there's no way to make a more recent computer accept that drive.
That said, if anyone happens to have one laying about... I wouldn't mind getting my clammy hands on it.
gets sent to international conferences etc.. highly skilled in her specific area. Only now learning how to use excel, and generally doesnt deal with day to day or what I would consider basic groundwork stuff. Someone else prepares that and provides it to her.
I'm pleased it's not just me who finds that advert bloody annoying. What is the school it's going to teaching students? The school my neice goes to has a computer studies room and I've seen posters on the wall asking and explaining what a computer is. So this isn't a universal problem.
...This week, meet "Norman" who just last year took a frankly astounding support call at the law firm where he then woked....
Well, I suppose if someone calls you at work, waking up is a good start....
I dunno, with the systemic racial bias running through much of the criminal justice system I would applaud any employees' efforts to be more woke
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