Being one I say good riddance! Again! http://www.imore.com/power-users-vs-empowered-users
Yeah, this is my problem as well. I think there will always be a market for what I consider power users. I think there always has been, and a tablet will not at any point in the future handle it because they aren't the right format for it. I'm sorry, but that's just a fact. No matter how powerful a tablet is, I cannot imagine any moment in the future where CAM designers and engineers will whip out an iPad or whatever and use it to create super-precise building plans. I don't imagine chemical engineers using it to run the math. It just won't happen.Originally Posted by Keith Plucker
...and there we have the first problem with the article, without an agreement on what a "power user" is, a discussion about them is rather pointless.
Also how do you get "Death of the Power User" from that article? There was nothing in it suggesting power users are going away. Rather, she/he simply talks about how basic computer tasks are more easily handled by iOS.
I guess you could, like the author, call that "empowerment." Of course, you can also call the Autopia attraction at Disneyland driving. Any empowerment a user might experience with iOS is tempered by rather severe limitations.
To me, "empowerment" should be making complexity more accessible without limitations. Sadly, Apple no longer feels the same way.
-Keith
Of course. Everybody knows that you don't use an iPad; that the machine you use for this is a really old Macintosh with a black-and-white 9" screen. Step 1: Say "Computer ..." Step 2: Upon being corrected by your colleague, pick up the mouse, and say "Computer ..." into it, as though it were a microphone. Step 3: Resign yourself to using the keyboard ("how quaint"). Step 4: Give your chemical formula to someone whom you aren't sure should have it, in return for an inferior product delivered right now. ... Step N: Profit !?!mattCR said:No matter how powerful a tablet is, I cannot imagine any moment in the future where CAM designers and engineers will whip out an iPad or whatever and use it to create super-precise building plans. I don't imagine chemical engineers using it to run the math. It just won't happen.
Ok, that's a great reference. And the moment that happens, I've got a pair of chemical engineers who will be all over those souped up MacSEsOriginally Posted by Thomas Newton
Of course. Everybody knows that you don't use an iPad; that the machine you use for this is a really old Macintosh with a black-and-white 9" screen.
Step 1: Say "Computer ..."
Step 2: Upon being corrected by your colleague, pick up the mouse, and say "Computer ..." into it, as though it were a microphone.
Step 3: Resign yourself to using the keyboard ("how quaint").
Step 4: Give your chemical formula to someone whom you aren't sure should have it, in return for an inferior product delivered right now.
...
Step N: Profit !?!
Actually, that's how I would describe Apple's corporate attitude toward technology.A power user ... they have all the answers about how to best use things and usually aren't too shy about sharing with the world about how they would do things differently and how regular users would be better off if they would just be reasonable and do things their way.
http://daringfireball.net/2013/03/open_and_shut He nails the fundamental disconnect here. It's not a matter how how open something is technologically but philosophically that matters. People think that having a benign dictator is worse than having paralyzing complexity. It's the fundamental story of the downfall of Anakin Skywalker after all! =) [video]http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0Ti9NXc7CM[/video] How dare Apple decide what is best for all of us?That’s what bothers people about Apple. Everyone used Windows, why couldn’t Apple just settle for making stylish Windows machines? Smartphones required hardware keyboards and removable batteries; why did Apple make theirs with neither? Everyone knew you needed Flash Player for the “full web experience”, why did Apple drop it? 16 years after the ad campaign, “Think Different” has proven itself to be more than glib marketing. It is a simple, serious motto that serves as a guiding light for the company. I think what Wu and his brethren believe is not that companies win by being “open”, but that they win by offering choices. Who is Apple to decide which apps are in the App Store? That no phone will have a hardware keyboard or removable battery? That modern devices are better off without Flash Player and Java? Where others offer choices, Apple makes decisions. What some of us appreciate is what so rankles the others — that those decisions have so often and consistently been right.
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=adobe+flashOriginally Posted by Hanson
I just helped out an 80 year old neighbor who couldn't get Flash videos running on her Mac. I had to install Chrome since it appears you can no longer install Flash for Safari. Took me 15 minutes to figure out where the program was and how to pin it to the task bar. I have no fucking idea where anything is on a Mac, and everything seems counter-intuitive.
An interesting thread, on the connotation of "power user". Matt's example, to me, is a professional user; a practical, pragmatic user, who needs the fastest computer available. But they're not a "power user".Originally Posted by mattCR
Vast misunderstanding in my mind, as has always been, what a power user is. To me, a power user is a head of engineering running three displays and a CAM robot.
Sam's example is how I've understood they term over the years. The "power user" is someone who enjoys computers for their own sake, and goes to great lengths to extract every bit of efficiency from their work process, with hacks, tweaks, keyboard shortcuts, niche software, niche hardware. The also tend to live on the forward edge of computer hardware, but don't necessarily need the power. Caring deeply about all this stuff, the person is the resource for friends; and may also be an evangelist for their "better" way of doing things.Originally Posted by Sam Posten
No I don't agree with that at all Matt. Although the article tends to equate power users with the types you do, I'd call that a professional user. A power user would be more akin to someone like Scoble, who thinks that they have all the answers about how to best use things and usually aren't too shy about sharing with the world about how they would do things differently and how regular users would be better off if they would just be reasonable and do things their way.
Worse, they badger the developers to make things work to fit their specialized use cases and encourage flexibility in how many different ways a task can be accomplished. "Isn't choice wonderful" is their byword.
We did that. Would not install. Unlike Windows, it gave us no reason why it wouldn't install.Originally Posted by DaveF
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=adobe+flash
http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/
Installed it a month ago. Updated it last week.
Wasn't a Power PC Mac by any chance was it? And I get what you are saying on the "just works" aspect of the latest Android tablets, I haven't reskinned my Nexus 7 after all. It's not my favorite device by any means but it's serviceable for what it is. For me. I think my parents would hate it tho, compared to an iPad, tho I think part of that would be the smaller screen. I wish like hell I could get at least my mom onto a tablet, any tablet, and off the PC, but she has no interest at this time so I can't confirm....Hanson said:We did that. Would not install. Unlike Windows, it gave us no reason why it wouldn't install.
Technology is the stuff that doesn't work. Everything else is furniture.Originally Posted by Hanson
We did that. Would not install. Unlike Windows, it gave us no reason why it wouldn't install.