I am not opposing your central message in any way, but...

On 13/03/2020 02:59, Steve Litt wrote:
> involves programming, and most people can't
> do that.
>
> Oh really? 12 lines of code and they can't do it (or have a friend help
> do it)?

Really. There is no way on earth that the average computer user could
even come close to writing a program or script and this applies to most
of their friends too.

Some people might be able to use a macro recorder or a graphical tool
that allows them to assemble functional blocks to create a script, but
even that much would be too much for most end users in my experience.
End users want to use, to consume. Creating/programming is not in their
mindset.


It strikes me that back when I first got into computers (the early 80s),
there was a sense of optimism that the rapid growth of widely affordable
technology would result in a new golden era of technical literacy. Oh
dear, how naive.

Instead, the techies, geeks and entrepreneurs made technology *easier*.
We made it so that it was easier for end users to consume, to use what
was offered to them. There was no need for the non-technical end users
to learn anything. It all just works. Or, if it doesn't work, they throw
it away and try something else. And so that golden age of technical
literacy has never really arrived. What we have now is billions of
consumers and, proportionately speaking, fewer and fewer people who
actually know how it all works.

Thus, the average user (even the average Linux user, I suspect) is not
going to be scripting stuff any time soon (other than maybe by typing in
stuff they Googled).

--
Mark Rousell