@deech i wonder if that's a trend. i spent a few years doing help desk work and traveling to people's homes to fix their computers.

@d6 Do you consider it formative?

@deech certainly gave me an appreciation for the diversity of how people used their computers and optimizing for what they wanted them to do (vs what software makers wanted them to do)

@d6 @deech Circa 1995, third shift support at the local ISP. Customer can't check her e-mail. We go through a few steps until establishing she didn't have access to a computer. But she had a pretty good idea what she'd have done with one!

@ross one house i go to they are having a lot of strange problems and data loss. at one point i joke that maybe someone has been storing powerful magnets next to their computer. the husband says "you mean like this?" and pulls a huge magnet out of his pocket. turns out he works in salvage and uses the magnets at work testing for ferrous metal @deech