full-disclosure - Yes, user education is a lost cause ;-)

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From: dufresne at winternet.com (Ron DuFresne)
Subject: Yes, user education is a lost cause ;-)

	[SNIP]

> > There is nothing wrong with end users. THEY are the
> > customers. The consumers. Remember? They buy OUR products. WE
> > have to adapt to them, not they to us.
> >
> This I completely disagree with.  Let me give you a real world example.
> An individual who owned a small, private airplane entered the plane and
> took off while so drunk that his alcohol level was three times the legal
> limit.  In his drunken stupor he didn't close the cockpit door and latch
> it properly.  At 10,000 feet the door suddenly popped open, he lost
> control of the aircraft, crashed and was killed instantly.
>
> Is this the aircraft manufacturer's fault?  Keep in mind, they *could*
> have built the plane so that it was impossilbe to fly unless the door
> was securely latched.  Does the pilot carry any of the blame?  Or is the
> manufacturer entirely at fault?  Due to this one "accident", should the
> manufacturer be forced to redesign the door mechanism?
>

for one accident perhaps not, for many accidents in the short span of say
the last two or two and a half years that saw code-red, nimda and slammer,
then we'd see chages in design that did make it "impossilbe to fly unless
the door was securely latched".

> The customer isn't *always* king.  Sometimes they are the court jester.
> As a producer, you have to decide just how far you're willing to go to
> accommodate idiots, if at all.  The customer *isn't* always right, and
> sometimes the customer is entirely to blame for unforeseen outcomes.
>  >

Unless they happen to be students that shop for an education on how well
their university fills their ISP needs perhaps huh?

Thanks,

Ron DuFresne
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Cutting the space budget really restores my faith in humanity.  It
eliminates dreams, goals, and ideals and lets us get straight to the
business of hate, debauchery, and self-annihilation." -- Johnny Hart
	***testing, only testing, and damn good at it too!***

OK, so you're a Ph.D.  Just don't touch anything.