Users shouldn't install software?

Users shouldn't install software?

Posted Apr 8, 2004 18:53 UTC (Thu) by ordonnateur (subscriber, #6652)
In reply to: Users shouldn't install software? by giraffedata
Parent article: The User-Accessible Filesystem Hierarchy Standard

Yes, that was the promise of 'personal computing': no need for a data centre and all those spoilsport admins, just go out and by the box and DIY.
And so long as it was just a glorified typewriter there wasn't much trouble with that. It saved the admin from a lot of trivia, it kept the end user happy. It was even, you might say, an advantage, when the users came cap in hand to the experts to fix thier spreadsheets and macros and bits of BASIC: teach them it's not as easy as they think.

But then came networks of document processors, and the spreadsheets started to look like the company accounts, and the order process on a db held together with string and sealing wax, not to mention email and all. The isolated PC is no longer isolated, and the users who do most damage are the ones with computing power in excess of thier aptitude and inclination to master it.
I can't do much about people who wilfully use a computer badly, other than protect my patch with defensive walls, but I do think it is a responsibility of distributors, developers, and sytem managers to think about the implications of a world of ignorant users. Dangerous machinery needs to have guards and covers over the moving parts, because anyone can slip sometimes, and many people are simply careless.

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