Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Requiem for power users

This blog talks about settings, but says something important about power users: ignore them.

At first, I was angry. Then sad.

But I have seen the future, and power users have no place in it. With the demise of the home computer (replaced by smart phones and cool tablets) and the organizational support of the work computer, power users have no place.

Power users came into existence with the first corporate use of PCs. Power users were the folks who were the smartest kids on the block (or in the office) and knew how to make the computers work. In the days of PC-DOS, Lotus 1-2-3, screen drivers, and FORMAT commands, power users had a place in the corporate world. They helped the neophytes with these strange new devices.

Power users used magic to make the mysterious box do a person's bidding.

They existed only in corporations. Home users had the smart neighborhood child to make things work, but no one ever called him a "power user". You have power users only in a community of users, and you have users only in corporations. (Or perhaps schools.)

The days of power users are long gone. Corporations now have support organizations to answer the questions of regular users, but they are staffed by technicians. The web and search engines allow anyone to get answers quickly. Software (especially software for Apple devices) has gotten quite easy to use. You plug in the device and it works. Gone are the days of configuration files, custom settings, and poring through printed (and often poorly written) manuals.

It is time for us power users to gracefully retire, to quietly leave the scene and let folks enjoy their shiny hand-sized magical boxes. Corporations have no need for magicians.


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