Re: Silent Update Question

-Zach Lym


On Thu, Aug 25, 2011 at 2:47 PM, Peter Sinnott <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Aug 25, 9:28 pm, Zac Lym <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > You are in the less than 1% of users who have the technical competence to
> > make this decision and change the default setting.
> >
> > Just like the less than 1% of drivers who maintain their own car,
> > understanding and maintaining the complex systems of a computer is far
> > beyond what well over 99% of users care to do.
> >
>
> Not owning a car I'm prepared to be wrong about this but don't car
> owners still make the decision about when to take their car to the
> garage? Nobody breaks in at night , repairs the car and leaves a bill
> on the dashboard.
>

I also happen to be an expert in metaphor theory, stop abusing them.  Car
owners generally do whatever a mechanic tells them to as they know little
about the inner workings of a car.  Much like computer help, they rely on
friends and relatives with expertise to guide them.  Their understanding of
how the car itself operates is still naive, at best.

The only way to ensure a smooth customer experience is to 1) reduce defects
to under 99.999% and 2) amortize the cost of car maintenance with
warranties.  The latter allows a mechanic to essentially spend unlimited
sums on fixing a car, without the customer having to know what the problem
is.  It's really just a consumer-facing counter-measure for manufacturing
problems.

If you happen to be someone who can fix cars and have time to do so, then by
all means, void your warranty.  However, the car-makers go to some length to
make sure someone can't do that by accident.


>
> > Why is everyone so quit to forget the steaming POS that was the Mozilla
> > Application Suite?  The thousand or so preference
> > "choices" were all the result of programmers making the
> cut-the-baby-in-half
> > compromises based on your exact argument.
>
> I installed SeaMonkey this week as part of the process of working out
> what to replace Firefox with. I would be surprised if there were a
> thousand user visible preferences. Back in the day there were probably
> 3 settings I ever changed when I installed Mozilla. It did bring back
> memories of a guy from one of the US offices handing out Netscape 6
> the code is ready tshirts. The code was NOT ready.
>
>
> >
> > Please stop
> > making me wish this list was invite-only.
> >
>
> Self selected elite can not cope with plebs shocker.
>
> Oh, we certainly can!  Thankfully, we are the Allies in this flame-war and
we will end it by droping atomic bombs on you Nazi scum and those you
affiliate with.

;D
-Zach