Advocacy: A discouraging conversation

[Mike Schwartz]

On 7/11/06, Alan Dayley <alandd at consultpros.com> wrote:

> [...]
> I always thought I understood that average people were somewhat ignorant
> about the Internet, what it is, etc.  Then I was shocked into the
> reality this Sunday.
>
> I was showing the funny GetFirefox commercials to my visiting extended
> family when the following conversation between my sister-in-law, my
> mother-in-law (both reasonably intelligent) and myself occurred:
>
> Mother: What is Firefox? Is that an Internet service?
> Sister (before I could answer): Firefox is like AOL or MSN.COM, right?
> Mother: Oh, so you go on the Internet and visit there. We have cable
> Internet at home. Can we get Firefox there?
> Me: Firefox is a web browser not a service. Like Internet Explorer is a
> browser.
> Sister: So it IS like AOL.
> Mother: But can I get it through cable?
>
> I was dumbfounded that two normal people had no concept what a browser
> was.  I didn't feel like starting an Internet 101 class at that moment,
> nor did we have the time, so I dropped it.
>
> How can Firefox, for example, sell itself to people who think it is an
> ISP? We FS/OSS advocates have a lot education to do before people even
> understand what the choice IS, let alone that they have one!
>
> Alan
> [...snip...]


I second that emotion.

I myself  sometimes feel lost trying to
find something in the on-line documentation
for a program, especially if it is, like, some DB
or spread sheet, or presentation graphics
(or even Word Processing) software,
that I don't know very well.

However, my parents (in their 80s) still do
not have e-mail,
and one of my sisters
(who has a son & daughter both getting
 straight A's in college)
still thinks it is too much strain on her brain,
for her to learn (or, is it, remember, once
she learns) how to use COPY and PASTE.

I guess everything is, it is all relative.
[so], keep things in perspecitve,
all the best, from
-- 
Mike Schwartz
Glendale  AZ
  but,
  temporarily in Iowa
schwartz at acm.org
Mike.L.Schwartz at gmail.com
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