I agree with you. I know more than one who bought a new notebook because the operating system didn't work and they don't even realize that reinstalling is an option.
anything existed before my birth is old and outdated. Ideas and inventions I grew up with really changed and is changing the world. Others are useless and invade my privacy.
I cannot remember either the exact sentences or where I get this from.
You two are talking about different groups of people.
crontab/Linux/Win: definitely needs learning
smartphone: a little bit easier to use, open an app and everything is set
visual assistant: out of box for being ready to use.
I taught one of my family members about using PC and Android, and found that almost everything needs to be explained. For example:
- What's Google/Microsoft for? (Yes, even the giants in tech may never be heard for some people and it's common)
- Browser? And there are many of them? (Not everyone has a computer and Internet access)
- URL? What is that? I cannot even spell it! (This is more complicated and requires people to remember the addresses of tens of commonly used websites, btw, what's a bookmark!?)
- register? with what? bank account or passport? (if someone doesn't have a email account, it's likely that they have no idea about the process of register, activation.)
- App market? wait a second, what's an app? (not to mention built-in ones and those from 3rd parties)
The thing is Alexa, google home and many others provide a unified, easy to use substitute(well, I have to admit these devices are pretty dumb these days. So they are not 100 percent alternatives). The only requirement is being able to speak in a clear way, which is true for almost everyone.
PS: I don't have any of these devices. As a hard-core programmer, my choice is, without any doubt, *nix, shell, etc. GUI sucks ;-)
Totally agree with you. And it's funny to obeserve that history repeats itself in the comments of this post, like GPS vs voice assistance.
I'm in my 30s too and I can remember how I tried to walk to the library in the city for the first time: a map, tricks to figure out the orientation, and asking passerby. Back then, it's not as convenient as navigation with GPS/Google Map, but people were used to it.
The point is: concerns about privacy had and has never been a issue for any technology. The fact that everyone can own a cellphone with GPS, mic, gigabytes of storage makes them forget about that their location is being tracked by both cell towers, OS itself, and possibly some apps. It's totally possible that in the near future a device in the size of earpods can: help you learn a foreign language, teach you certain professional skills such as singing, and control all appliances. Then people will say something with absolute certainty: visual assistant really helps and my life will be a totally mess without it, but technology XYZ is too much, useless for me,and it tacks my movement.
PS: I use GPS related apps a lot on a daily basis: find nearest restaurant, navigate, and many other location-based apps. But here is a interesting report about taxi drivers rely on their memory instead of GPS:
https://www.thenational.ae/opinion/comment/exercising-your-b...
LastPass user here, the reason why I choose LastPass is it's convenient and _not_ because it's safe. A common misconception is that softwares like LastPass/Keepass should be extremely secure, resist to any kind of hacking/exploiting, so that I can store all my passwords in it. Let face it, that's not realistic. The practical way is: 1, for non-critical accounts use the most convenient and relatively safer one, like LastPass/OpenID/etc. 2, for cirtical ones(like bank account, major email account) burn a strong passwords inside your brain and combine it with 2FA. Do not trust any one/software when something really matters to you.