I was showing a friend, not a particularly old friend (mid-forties) some things on his laptop. He insists that anything to do with I.T. is beyond him... but I think it's the blind spot some people get. They're not prepared to just do trial and error, or to read the instructions on the screen, or sometimes, to just use common sense!
But software and Internet developers can't claim it's the fault of the luddites... there are too many people like that and one has to plan for the lowest common denominator.
So. For example. He was complaining that with his new email service (BTInternet / Yahoo!) he can't create folders. So I explained to him that the new method of 'tagging' or labelling' means that he doesn't have to decide, for example, that an email from me would need to be filed in two folders ("I.T. Support", and "Friends") but with tagging, or labelling, he could, in effect, file it in a dozen different ways.
So this is all new to him. As it is to so many people. It's not intuitive... and Internet companies (etc.) make a grave error when they think that everyone knows what they're talking about...or that they only need put explanations in Help pages (that no one ever reads).
Surely one of the hardest things for any developer of any kind of technology is not to create something new, but to make something new seem natural and obvious and so intuitive that it needs no help section or support desk at all.
If someone has an example of such a thing - do let me know.
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