RE: aggressive computers (was: Word Processors)

["Warren Baird" <baird asc on ca>]

> effective helpers under your authority are good. yes-men with poor
> decision-making skills just get in the way and annoy. so what line do
> you think we should draw in the sand for active assistance? i say if the
> user elects, commentary on what the user has done should be available,
> but at no point should the computer try to predict what's coming up
> next. if somebody feels ambitious enough to try to insult their user's
> intelligence in that way, it should at least be off by default. just my
> two bits.

It depends entirely on who your target audience is.  I find it annoying when
the paper clip pops up asking me if I want help writing a letter after I
type "Dear sir" into a new word document, but my Mom (who has trouble
programming a VCR) would probably be delighted to have the help.

The people who are most helped by automatic assistants are probably the
people least able to turn on an assistant that is off by default.

If Gnome is going to become a popular success, we need to set it up so that
it is as easy as possible for a completely naive non-techie to do useful
things with it.  As much as I hate windows, I still have to admit that it's
got Linux beat  when it comes to the naive users.  I think my Mom could
probably just cope with a PC pre-installed with Win9X, but I've yet to see
any Linux environment she could handle.  I hope Gnome could become that kind
of environment.

I am fully in favour of having assistants and of having them on by default,
as long as it's easy to turn them off (and that they never voluntarily come
back after being turned off).

Warren
--
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