Re: Well if the US ships want the Chinese to keep out of the way
> This is also what things like LibreOffice and most Linux desktops lack: decent design
LibreOffice is complex? Really? Its a word processor that still uses the good old "correct" way of giving users menus. ANY child from the late 90's has used these in IT class and will have no issue with them.
Trust me, I saw the fallout when that damn ribbon came in Word et al. Well we still have issues, even myself in IT is having to spend ages exploring coloured pixels to see if clicking one does something so that I can sort out this users signature.
The you say that the Linux desktop is complex? Again, seriously?
Every one of the 90's kids, i.e the ones earning the money in their households now they have grown up, used Windows XP. Some used Win NT, at school, every day (I started in 1995 with RISC OS on an Acorn). None of them will find any of the Linux desktops (maybe except GNOME) difficult to use. The concept of having a "start" menu is used in these desktops, its the same paradigm as used by every human going to school in the late 90's and 2000's. Microsoft tried to ditch it in windows 8 and look what happened.
Most of the users I deal with have issues using smartphones:
User: "My email isnt working again"
Me: "Did your password get changed?"
User: "Yes I changed it a few days ago, since then I have no emails"
Me: "check the notifications for the one asking for your new password"
User: "What notifications"
Me: "In the notification drawer you can pull down from the top"
User: "Where is the top? I cant see a drawer"
Me: "Swipe down the screen from the top"
User: "Nothing happens, oh facebook has just opened"
Me: "I'll take a look." So I go off, walk all the way to the users desk just to swipe down the notifications drawer and tap the "Outlook needs your password" notification. Once the user enters the password they look at me like I'm Einstein.
Then I frequently get this, again with your "simple to use" smartphones:
User: "My phone is not syncing with my laptop, I cant see my meetings in the calendar when I add them on the phone"
Me: "Thats strange, are you getting emails on the phone?"
User: "Yes and I'm getting reminders about meetings if they are added on the laptop"
Me: "Are you adding your new meetings into the Outlook calendar on your phone, or on the phones calendar? You must add stuff you want to sync to the outlook one."
User: "Theres more than one calendar?"
Me: "Yes take a look at your calendar list and see which one you have open"
User: "Wheres that?"
Me: "Open the menu, you might have to swipe left if you are on the latest Ios"
User: "Nothing happens. Whats an ios? I cant see a menu. Oh wait, I think I found a panel thing that comes in when I swipe like you said"
Me: "Cool, can you see a list of calendars in there?"
User: "In where?"
Me: "The panel."
User: "No, the panel thing has text in it but it keeps moving back to the left, I cant read it as it wont stay there. Oh, the screen has changed. I pressed one of the buttons on the bottom and now I have a lot of pictures that look like apps and they move when I touch the screen."
Me: "Hang on" So I go off and switch calendars for the user, again they look at me like I'm Einstein. I'm beginning to feel like Reginald Perrin by now.
I have also had a user who had somehow set her phone to only display contacts that were stored on the phone and not the ones from outlook. She was in quite a state thinking that someone was deleting her business contacts. Till I went over and opened the menu and ticked the outlook address book.
Then I've had people call me up as they somehow triggered a full wipe of the company issued ipad and they use it to play spotify in the pub, to the customers, To have music and happy customers tonight this ipad needs re-configuring, over the phone. Thats not a very easy thing to do when they literally are confused why the ipad says and does stuff as we set it up.
NONE of these issues are had with their win 10 laptops. Any issues with those are due to actual real problems worthy of my time. Maybe its:
- The TPM playing up so bitlocker wont unlock at boot. Easily resolved by giving them the recovery key and scheduling a bit of TLC for the laptop where we update all the firmware that is known to fix the issue.
- Hardware issues, fixed by next day on site repair.
- Software issues that simply need a reboot and possibly a couple of updates to finally resolve them.
- Issues with their internet / router / lan that need resolving or bits replacing.
- They may need us to type in the admin password so the printer driver can install.
None of them have any real silly issues in actually using the machines. Sometimes they call up wondering why their printer looks to be offline and we help debug it or they call up saying their laptop and vpn password are out of sync. None of them ask "whats the start menu" "where do I find word" "how to I restart" "how do I connect to wifi".
All of them can use a traditional desktop environment (as close to traditional win 10 is) and none of them had issues with win 7 and none will have issues with any modern linux desktop besides simply getting familiar with where things may be.
BUT every iphone, ipad or android device causes issues due to insane usability choices. Even some of the younger ones have no clue about how to view the correct contacts or the correct calendar. All they know is how to post and like stuff on facebook.
So you think smartphones are simple to use? If I had my way everyone would be using a cheap feature phone for work.I shouldnt have to be thought of as a reincarnation of Einstein just because I know how to view notifications.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
