[LINK] Steve Jobs: Great unwashed don't need PCs

[Stilgherrian]

On 03/06/2010, at 9:08 AM, Ivan Trundle wrote:
> On 03/06/2010, at 8:12 AM, Stilgherrian wrote:
>> Further to my point about the way we use computers changing...
>> 
>>   http://mailman.anu.edu.au/pipermail/link/2010-June/088260.html
>> 
>> 'It is official: Steve Jobs no longer thinks that PCs are going to be that important.
> 
> 
> The vitriolic that appeared almost instantly on many online forums is astounding (concerning the truck analogy): it appears that many feel threatened by the 'appliance model' of computing. In America, I've seen statements that declare that this is an attack on American values, and freedom.
> 
> It's a great shake-up of a complacent industry.

Absolutely. A reckon there's two reasons for the vitriol, apart from the sheer annoyance that many people feel for Steve Jobs. Actually maybe they're just one reason, with both financial and psychological implications.

If the majority of people no longer need a difficult-to-maintain computer for the majority of their activities, that puts a whole swathe of computer support people out of a job. No more expensive call-out to reconfigure Outlook for a new email account when Gmail (or Windows Live or Apple's MobileMe or whatever) "just works". No sense of superiority over "lusers" who need the expert to solve all of their problems.

If you've spent 10 or 20 years becoming an expert in "the PC", only to be told that most people don't need a PC any more, well, that cuts to the very core of your being!

Stil


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