Jason LefkowitzI occasionally help an elderly neighbor get stuff done with their computer. And every single time, I walk away in incandescent rage at how hard we have made this stuff for people who have not spent their entire waking lives marinating in it
Someone posted a reply saying that computers were harder in the past so it's fine they're hard now, which earned them an instant block. Thanks for identifying yourself as the kind of person I want nothing to do with
jtonline@jalefkowit I'm sure computers were much easier in the past in many ways. I get exceedingly angry about all the dark patterns and BS my 12yo has to put up with these days.
@jtonline They were bad in the old days, but it was more excusable then (IMO) because the whole field was so new. Everybody had to figure out from scratch what worked and what didn't. Plus computers were much slower and had less resources; there weren't CPU cycles available for things like nice interfaces.
Today we know what works and we have the resources to do it. We just don't, because someone can make more money by making things hard
@jalefkowit true, fiddling with little switches to get a mouse working was definitely bad! And it definitely seems like the incentives are all wrong these days. :(
DJDarren@jtonline @jalefkowit My mother in law had to force-reboot her laptop the other day, but couldn't because she has arthritis and the stupid, artfully designed tiny little power button was too small and tough for her to push.
NatalyaD@jalefkowit @DJDarren @jtonline
My mum did just fine with a BBC micro and specific keyboard commands for markup in word processing which my dad printed and stuck to the noticeboard for her. Mum learned the 5 or 6 most useful by heart. Same for Claris Works and Apple System 7.x.
The UI didn't change. The computer did not pop shit up at her. There was no spam (or Internet).
I was also home 90% of the time to fix or talk Mum thru stuff patiently cos Mr Computing Degree Dad got grumpy.
I leave home and Mum works as a teacher, using Windows.
Mum downloaded all kinds of malware marketed as "toolbars" "clipart for schools". Lots of meltdowns about popups/crap. Panic clicking the X button on ALL dialogs.
Appleware from 2015 onwards has been better, but it's still not easy, although she's calmer now (retired) and I have remote-access options.
Amazon tricks Mum into Prime subscriptions a lot. I've trained her to phone & middle class harass em
As well as now being elderly, Mum is dyslexic and she's got a lifetime of suffering from male sexism, where men make her feel stupid for not being as good at a technical thing as she is.
There's sometimes where my partner and I (both female) can get Mum to do stuff or listen where no man can, cos she's not tensed-up for the expected sexism and sneering (or obvious THINKING sneering thoughts badly suppressed).
Glad your neighbour has you. It's not easy.
@NatalyaD @jalefkowit @jtonline I'm at a point where I'm wondering whether it might be beneficial to put Mint on my 2011 MacBook, and give it to MiL.
She already uses Firefox, so all I'd need is to make sure that's prominent and available and signed in to her account. We'll be able to remote into it if anything does awry, and I can run software updates in the background.
It has no battery, but she never moves her current laptop anyway. And it'll be a damn sight more stable than the budget Windows laptop she currently has.
I have my mum on iOS on her 2016 Macbook which was new when she bought it and we've kept going since. I run updates and time machine each visit. She manages Chrome or FireFox as browsers and Libre Office for documents (and she is uneducatedly dyslexically horrific with a spreadsheet regardless of application).
In a way as long as it is stable, consistent, you have the useful apps in 'the place for apps' I think it can work well. Windows is however hell.
@NatalyaD @jalefkowit @DJDarren and I'm getting more grumpy about stealth menus all over the place: vertical hamburgers, horizontal hamburgers, upside down ^s, etc. etc.
3 vertical dots. And the other 3 dots in a subtly different place. (Yes, MS Office, that is you!)
And the cog.
And the horizontal dots.
Or the V click down triangle open or coloured in.
And Win 11 whose different settingses don't even properly overlap (and breaking a load of features).
I live in Linux at home. It's not perfect but it is 95% less bad and annoying. And has better fucking fonts.
I've had more recent opportunity to type it... And I knew what you meant, which is all that matters.
IU changes drive ME up the wall and I'm computer literate. It's a nightmare for disabled ppl who I work with/for.
I see folk presenting via online video thwarted by UI changes that mean their test run or last week's presenting UI doesn't work anymore. UI change wasn't announced, it just changed.
Often OS/apps update on a 5-90 min timescale then force a reboot WHILE WE ARE BUSY or mid-presentation/meeting etc. Work ppl send apologies for this all the time.
@jalefkowit @DJDarren
@NatalyaD @jalefkowit @DJDarren gah, it's a miracle more computers don't end up flying out of windows!
@DJDarren @jtonline @jalefkowit
I worked with a neurodivergent student who DID literally throw their laptop out of the window. That was a tricky arrange-a-replacement cos the funding entity considered it deliberate damage and we had to really bash into them that it was disability related behaviour.
And a lot of work was done with laptop 2, "whatever happens, do NOT break this laptop, cos you won't get a third".
Fazal Majid@jtonline @NatalyaD @jalefkowit @DJDarren it's driven by marketing Apple's pointless Liquid Ass being a case in point.
@DJDarren @jalefkowit that's unhelpful 🤦