"When in doubt, press..."
A long time ago (early 1990's actually - I look back on it as a previous avatar, in another century) while serving in the Air Force, my duties included the development of an EDP (how archaic that sounds now!) cell at a maintenance base. After all, I was a fresh engineering graduate exposed to computing as part of course work.
Luckily, several of the working staff were good hands at developing computer-based systems for routine documentation and materials management using available resources (DOS, Foxpro, 386s and 486's and a primitive LAN).
Understandably, quite a few personnel, experts & geniuses at fighter aircraft systems and military tactics, had never seen a computer, nor could they tell hardware from software. But eagerness to learn was evident; many soon overcame initial awe and went on to accept and use all kinds of ware. One colleague summed up his understanding of how the machines functioned, and how one could possibly master that management tool: "When in doubt, press 'Escape'".
Yesterday, my mom called long-distance to ask "I am listening to music on Youtube, but the video has occupied the whole screen. How do I get back my familiar desktop?"
I took a deep breath and commenced long-distance troubleshooting, feeling as earnest as a call-centre voice, then checked myself to confidently advise my septuagenarian parent: "Press 'Esc' -the escape key that you'll find at the top left corner of your keyboard".
That she did, and I'll leave you to guess who was more relieved...
Luckily, several of the working staff were good hands at developing computer-based systems for routine documentation and materials management using available resources (DOS, Foxpro, 386s and 486's and a primitive LAN).
Understandably, quite a few personnel, experts & geniuses at fighter aircraft systems and military tactics, had never seen a computer, nor could they tell hardware from software. But eagerness to learn was evident; many soon overcame initial awe and went on to accept and use all kinds of ware. One colleague summed up his understanding of how the machines functioned, and how one could possibly master that management tool: "When in doubt, press 'Escape'".
Yesterday, my mom called long-distance to ask "I am listening to music on Youtube, but the video has occupied the whole screen. How do I get back my familiar desktop?"
I took a deep breath and commenced long-distance troubleshooting, feeling as earnest as a call-centre voice, then checked myself to confidently advise my septuagenarian parent: "Press 'Esc' -the escape key that you'll find at the top left corner of your keyboard".
That she did, and I'll leave you to guess who was more relieved...
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i appreciate that you have some thoughts to share, and are taking the effort to do so.