It strikes me that IT companies are getting away with murder as far as usability and support are concerned.
As soon as my friends or family get a new bit of hardware or software, I get a phone call. I actively encourage people to use firewalls and antivirus software to reduce the amount of time I spend ridding their machines of nasties. Sometimes I feel like sending an invoice to Dell/Microsoft/Norton for the time I’ve wasted because their products are not fit for use by “normal” home users.
It would be interesting to see the state of home computing if all the “IT friends” turned round and refused to help their friends! I’m guessing it would be a serious mess…
Cheers
Tim…
I hear you on that one. One of my older computers went to my parents so they could explore the internet. Now they have a digital camera and want to burn CD’s. Lord help me when they get a cable modem…
It’s not just IT people, same thing goes for lawyers, doctors, carpenters, etc. We all get bugged for our expertise. The only difference is using a computer is the one thing we are expected to be able to do with no training whatsoever.
Oh well, I usually get a free dinner out of it.