Ivory
Tower October 2008
By
Ted Bade
We
humans are truly amazing. I really mean that, but not totally in a good way.
While many of us are out there trying to promote information freedom and to
give everybody access to all information, there are almost as many out there
working hard to figure out how to muddy, distort, or manipulate the
information.
It
is almost as if a group like ancient alchemists, thinking that if everyone has
knowledge their mysterious abilities won’t be needed anymore, are on a campaign
to hide knowledge. We all know the history of how “scientists” of old used
codes and other cryptic means to record their information, sharing the secrets
of the code only with a few. This, of course, made them “valuable” to society.
If you wanted to make use of something they knew, you had to go through them.
We see a lot of this today in the computer science and medical fields. Doctors
down speak of “laymen” and the IT people speak in exasperated tones of “users”.
While
“laymen” might not have a lot of medical knowledge, some of them are educated
and many have advanced degrees, which makes one consider they can think for
themselves. The same is true for some “users”. I have learned over the years
that using a personal computer and the field of “Computer Science” are not that
closely related. A power PC user can probably run rings around a MS in computer
science when it comes to the PC that person is familiar with.
Most
of the people in these professions, rather then making the technology easier
(at least the basic parts), work to keep the status quo. Yet for both, there
are communities available that work to give control to the user. That is one of
the major reasons that I like working with Macs, since the Mac community tends
to work that way. The basics are easy, one doesn’t need an IT team to install a
program! But like any advanced technology, there are times when a person with
specialized knowledge can be a real benefit. As a general rule, the people in
the Mac community like to put the control in the hands of the user, but are
always willing to help when something special occurs. Not always so when it
comes to the Windows side.
The
same is true about my physical health. I would go to a doctor for advise,
because I expect he or she knows more about bodies in general then I do and can
recommend valuable solutions. But before I allowed any actions to occur, I will
do some research on what they suggest. I am happy to provide observations an
input about how I feel, since I am truly the expert on that (LOL). However, my
experience with many of them is that they just won’t listen to me, and from
what I have learned talking to other people, they really don’t listen to
anybody else either. This attitude is what I am talking about here in this
article. An old science that is trying to hide behind the skirts of “secret
knowledge”. It is not that the knowledge they possess is so easy anyone can do
it, it is the attitude that they are “precious” because they have this
knowledge and the “power” given to them by this.
In
the computer world, it is nowhere near as bad as in the medical world. Still,
people with the training and the knack for working with machines often hold
dearly to those secrets they earned, and won’t take the time to try to
understand what the “user” is trying to tell them. Granted, some of their
experience came from spending countless hours working on a particular problem.
I will also admit there are some people (users) that are so intimidated by
computers that they can seem to mess things up simply by turning the computer
on. The “professional” response is to treat everyone like they are completely
stupid (very similar to what the MDs do). Luckily, this isn’t everywhere and some IT people even try to educate,
as some MDs do as well. But in my experience, this isn’t the norm.
Personally,
I like working with Mac users best. Give them a little knowledge and they
quickly get the basics. Then instead of basic questions your suddenly get asked
tough power user questions! That is cool! Empower the user. You don’t loose
your job, it just gets a lot more fun! I do have to admit that this rule does
seem to work as well in the other operating systems I support. Some get what I
show them, others don’t. Those that do I give more knowledge to, those that
don’t, I keep a better watch on. But it is an individual case by case thing.
Don’t
take me wrong, I don’t believe that people with knowledge aren’t important,
they truly are. Not everyone is going to feel completely at ease with a
computer and few people have the interest it takes to learn all the
complexities of computers. This is even more so when we consider the medical
world. I am very glad there are people who are interested in providing these
services. My issue here is with the attitude of arrogance. Some people
understand more then others. Some people want to take responsibility for their
health and the health and well being of their computers. Other people want to
be completely taken care of. Service professionals need to have the ability to
intelligently work with both type of people.
Getting
back to the Internet and information. There is a lot of good information out
there. With the Internet, I can take the time to research a particular problem
I am having with just about any aspect of my life, physical, mental, or with
any item I use. I can learn more about it, and generally find a solution. This
doesn’t mean I won’t use people experienced with a particular subject. It does
mean that I will do as much research about a topic as I am interested in before
paying for someone to help me. This way I have a better understanding of what
is going to happen. Also, I tend to be “tricked” less often. If my car mechanic
told me that he wants to put some special chemical in my car, I will try to
find out what it is first. Just as if my doctor wants me to take a particular
drug, I want to know the possible side effects and be given the opportunity to compare
the risks to the benefits specifically to my life.
Alas,
for the Internet is a vast repository of confusion. Take a look at my first
paragraph. There are a lot of people out there willing to share their
information and experience, truthfully. Sadly, there are a lot of people out
there more interested in a fast buck or who just like to confuse people. So
instead of a tremendously valuable resource, we have a resource that has to be
evaluated every time it is used. How do you know if the information is real or
just somebody blowing smoke? There is as much a chance the information you read
will be provided by someone with real knowledge or experience as there is it
being provided by someone with a cause (for or against), or even someone who
knows absolutely nothing but likes to write! (Take my column, for instance ☺ )
A
good case in point are those Internet opinion sites. I always think it is a
good idea to visit them and see what people say about the things I plan to
purchase. You wouldn’t expect anyone to take the time to give false information
here, right? Well, perhaps that isn’t exactly right. Some time ago, I was
chatting with a friend who works at a bed store. He told me that some bed
manufacturers had told employees to visit these type of sites and either give
good reviews to their brand of beds or bad ones to the competition. Whether
this happened or not, it got me thinking. It would be easy to write a bunch of
false bad information about the competition. You know, I had this or that
problem, it arrived and wasn’t what I expected, and so forth.
Then
again, this negative information might have some truth. Which would ultimately
benefit the reader. But more likely then not, it will simply be someone saying
they just didn’t like the product. Most opinion sites use a star rating system,
so if a product gets enough low star ratings, it’s overall rating goes down.
When people do a basic search for a product, this is what they see first.
Obviously, a low star rating would immediately turn away a potential customer,
even if 90% of the bad ratings were without base. Would you be willing to read
through the reviews of a 2-Star item when there are a few four or five star
ones to choose from?
Wikipedia
is a great place to learn about stuff, but again, you have to be careful. For
this article I took a look at a some entries on controversial issues that I
know (or believe I know) something about, as well as a few I am vaguely
familiar with. I was surprised to find that, for the most part, the information
was pretty balanced. I do have to admit that the entry on Homeopathy reeks of a
big organization doing its best to paint it in a bad light. As a matter of
fact, it is so glaringly biased against this branch of health care, that it is
obvious that someone is trying to paint it in a negative light. I was surprised
that the entry concerning global warming was fair and balanced. That is an
issue that I truly expected would have a lot of negative and confusing
information. IMHO the opponents of these two issues are the drug industry
versus natural minded doctors for Homeopathy and the oil industry versus those
people who would like to take care of our environment when considering global
warming. (Perhaps the medical people are more comfortable with using the
Internet and the oil people more comfortable with using our politicians ☺ ).
Another
source of information we often turn to on (and off) the Internet for
information comes in the form of formal product reviews. We tend to think that
a person taking the time to test and author a review of a product, would give
fair information. For the most part, I believe this to be true. I know I try my
best to be fair and objective with the reviews I write. But believe me, some of
products you read reviews on haven’t been that well tested. A new product comes
out, magazines or web sites want to provide information about it as quickly as
possible, (information which attracts customers web site hits and therefore
revenue). Think about this scenario. Here is a new game that will soon hit the
market. Give me a review of it in two weeks and keep the review to 300 words!
How deep do you think the reviewer got into the game before spending all his or
her free time trying to come up with 300 fair and objective words! I have been
there and done that!
There
have been a few times I have reviewed a product, then later discovered
something I didn’t like about it. Most of the time, this information doesn’t
get to the review. Luckily, with a venue like MacCompanion.com, I have the
ability to easily make addendum's to my articles. The question is, will I make
the effort? The other issue is, how do I communicate this update to the
readers? Once you read my words, I have no real way of interacting with you to
point out my errors. I doubt you will return to see if I updated my thoughts ☺
There
are people out there that just like to rag on things. There is no way they will
say anything good about the topic. This was a real issue for many years
concerning the Macintosh. Some person who didn’t like the Mac, Apple, or the
Mac OS for any reason would post an article saying how bad something new was,
whether they had experienced it or not. There was a lot of bad PR for many
years. Sadly, this is still true and not just concerning Macs. Take any topic
you can think of, do a search on the Internet, and you will find somebody
telling you how bad it is.
Sure
some of this is for “fun” and some because people want to “wake” up the
sleeping masses. There is nothing like a good controversy to get people
actually thinking about a topic. But then there are the people who just want to
mess with things. Take malicious computer code for instance. I have complained
many times about people who write malicious computer code, so I won’t go into
that here. But that is a great example.
So
what is my problem? It is that we have this vast resource of information and
the ability to share an interact with almost everyone else on this planet of
ours and we still find people more interested in screwing things up then in advancing
our society. Little has changed since the days of old, when the printing press
made books affordable to the masses. Oh, we have matured a little. Instead of
burning people at the stake, hanging, or removing people’s heads, we smear
their credentials, steal their identities, and lie more loudly and more
frequently then those that tell the truth. While people are willing to give the
truth away for free, businesses and politicians pay large sum to get people to
lie and deceive. It is shameful.
“Dave, we have a problem” - It
appears that a computer virus has made it onto the International Space Station.
Oh great. In an article found on the 9to5Mac site,
they explain that the virus was carried to the space station by a laptop.
I
would expect that in these days of Window’s viruses, NASA would have a program
to clean up computers as well as their astronauts. But apparently this got
missed. I guess as long as people continue to allow malicious code to be
written, things like this are going to happen. I hope everyone up there at the
ISS (International Space Station) is safe and remains so.
Apple takes #4 position in Laptops - I always like it when I hear that more people are buying Macs. Apparently, so
many people have been buying Apple laptops that Apple now ranks #4 is laptop
sales. Wow!
Take
a look at this article found on the Information
Week web site titled: “Apple Rises
To Fourth In Home Notebook Market”. Good Job Apple.
Microsoft Fights Back - Well, the
Apple commercials (the “I’m and Mac and I’m a PC” version), have finally
produced a response from Microsoft. But I don’t think they get it. For some
reason, rather then finding interesting ways to “prove” just how wonderful
Vista can be, then have decided to create a set of commercials that simply say
that, hey, the PC guy isn’t all that bad. It is an interesting response, we
will have to see how the market responds to Microsoft’s $300 million campaign.
At
first, comedian Seinfeld was going to take an active part in the commercial
series. But apparently that didn’t work out. Take a look at this blog site that
shows the first Seinfield.
While it doesn’t say a lot about Microsoft, it is a commercial about nothing,
which follows the Seinfeld show criteria very closely!
The
next wave of ads simply send the message that being a “pc” is okay. The ads
show scientists, doctors and other famous people who have used a personal
computer to discover and created wonderful things. Does this sound a little
familiar?
Remember the Apple masters program of a few years ago? (If you don’t,
Apple showcased various artists, actors, and other famous people who used Macs
in their work). They still have the program. You can find this type of
information on the Apple web site, but they don’t use the materials for TV
commercials. Leave it to Microsoft to come up with an ad campaign just like
some other competitor used (i.e., they can’t even innovate advertising!!) If
you want to see the ads for your self, visit this web site.
I like the ads, they are nicely done.
The
ad campaign is sending a sneaky message. It does say that being a PC person
isn’t a bad thing. However, it also implies that the Apple commercials say that
being a PC person isn’t a good thing. It is an interesting approach. Instead of
saying how wonderful their product is (which might be pretty hard), they send
the message that Apple thinks the average PC user is a dummy. This message
could rally Windows PC users against the Mac.
The
problem is, being a PC isn’t the bad thing. I don’t think Microsoft really gets
that. The Apple commercials make a little fun of the befuddled PC guy, but his
problems stem from Vista or viruses, the lack of driver support Vista was known
for when it first came out, and many other problems related to Microsoft’s OS.
And a few dealt with issues associated with PC manufacture. The Microsoft ads
don’t deal with this issue. For all we know, some of the people who say I am an
PC in the ad could be using a PC that is a Mac!
Well
until next month, keep on using your Mac PC!
