This is, in some senses, a sign that programming and computer systems are getting better. You don't <i>want</i> people to have to learn the difference between a browser and the web and a search engine and an operating system - you want things to <i>just work.</i><p>For most people once their machine is set up this is the case, and then when they want something different, they don't know what they're asking. This is a sign of success, and not a sign that the users are stupid.<p>Although it must be admitted some of them are.<p>So here's the question. If you run a service, how much do you insist your users learn before they can actually use it? Anything? Nothing?<p>Added in edit:<p>"What is a Browser" is a similar issue (linked to elsewhere from this thread, and from previous submissions:<p><a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=662105" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=662105</a><p><a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=653962" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=653962</a><p><a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=626482" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=626482</a><p>As I say - having people not knowing about these things is a measure of success.
What is a Browser? (By the Google Chrome team): <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4MwTvtyrUQ" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4MwTvtyrUQ</a>
I wonder what percentage of the broader audience has difficulties like the one mentioned in that thread. I'm within a few weeks of launching a Web 2.0 startup focused on the mortgage industry. One of our goals is to make shopping for mortgages <i>very</i> easy to understand. But I'm not sure how we do that for someone who is also having problems typing "www.google.com" in an address bar. Should my goal be to make my product usable for the (I hope) 5%-10% of the market that has these sorts of difficulties? Or should I write them off, and focus on making the best product for the people out there who are more capable? It's an interesting question to ponder.
I saw a company recently announce they would not be supporting IE6 any longer.<p>The questions in their forums ranged from confused to bizarre. My favorite was "will I have to back up all of my [member data on their site] or will it still be here?"<p>People truly do not understand what is going on here - they have no idea what is stored/processed a remote server, what is happening locally, what a browser or another desktop program is, etc. I thought computer illiteracy would become less of a problem as more people used computers every day, but unfortunately, it's worked differently than expected. The average level of confusion has stayed the same and the ranks of the confused have grown.
Anyone know what is being taught regarding technolgy and the Internet in the us elementary and high school systems? Is Internet 101 a mandatory class that teaches these basics and some HTML? I sure hope so!<p>Will these type of clueless users always exist?
From the top response:<p><i>Google Chrome is a web browser, kind of like your tool to let you connect to the internet. There are a lot of different web browsers you can use to connect to the internet</i><p>You're doing it wrong :(.
I think someone said in another thread that some users are not really clear on whether Google is a website, a browser, an OS or something else.<p>The user that posted this question seems to prove that point.