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Re: The increasing disempowerment of the computer user

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Ben Finney <ben+python@benfinney.id.au> writes:

> Larry Martell <larry.martell@gmail.com> writes:
>
> > On Wed, Dec 11, 2013 at 8:42 PM, Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> wrote:
> > > rusi <rustompmody@gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > >> Many assumptions need to be verified/truthified/dovetailed
> > >> starting from switching on the machine onwards for this to work.
> > >
> > > At the time that [Kerningham & Ritchie] wrote [the C programming
> > > language], very few people who used computers ever got anywhere near
> > > the power switch :-)
> >
> > Nope. Long before that I was working on computers that didn't boot
> > when you powered them up, You had to manually key in a bootstrap
> > program from the front panel switches.
>
> That's done by the *operator*, not the user. Most people who *used*
> those computers worked at terminals at a distance, and usually separated
> by a locked door, from the computer's power switch.
>
> > (And no, this is not a takeoff of the Four Yorkshiremen sketch.)
>
> The pendulum swings back and forth. Computer users are once again
> blithely handing all their agency and choice back to centralised
> operators (so-called “could computing”) who follow an agenda not of
> those users's choosing.

Hmm, interesting Freudian slip there. I meant “cloud computing”, of
course. That's where the computer owner pretends their service is always
available and easy to access, while having terms of service that give
them unilateral power to kick you off with no warning, no explanation,
no accountability, and no recourse.

-- 
 \         “All television is educational television. The question is: |
  `\                           what is it teaching?” —Nicholas Johnson |
_o__)                                                                  |
Ben Finney

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Thread

Re: Experiences/guidance on teaching Python as a first programming language bob gailer <bgailer@gmail.com> - 2013-12-11 11:01 -0500
  Re: Experiences/guidance on teaching Python as a first programming language rusi <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2013-12-11 08:27 -0800
    Re: Experiences/guidance on teaching Python as a first programming language Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-12-11 16:36 +0000
    Re: Experiences/guidance on teaching Python as a first programming language Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-12-12 03:45 +1100
    Re: Experiences/guidance on teaching Python as a first programming language Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2013-12-11 20:42 -0500
      Re: Experiences/guidance on teaching Python as a first programming language Larry Martell <larry.martell@gmail.com> - 2013-12-11 21:07 -0500
        Re: Experiences/guidance on teaching Python as a first programming language Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2013-12-11 21:31 -0500
      The increasing disempowerment of the computer user (was: Experiences/guidance on teaching Python as a first programming language) Ben Finney <ben+python@benfinney.id.au> - 2013-12-12 13:21 +1100
      Re: The increasing disempowerment of the computer user Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2013-12-12 02:35 +0000
      Re: The increasing disempowerment of the computer user Ben Finney <ben+python@benfinney.id.au> - 2013-12-12 13:35 +1100
        Re: The increasing disempowerment of the computer user Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2013-12-12 10:59 +0000
          Re: The increasing disempowerment of the computer user David Hutto <dwightdhutto@gmail.com> - 2013-12-14 00:44 -0500
      Re: Experiences/guidance on teaching Python as a first programming language rusi <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2013-12-11 19:52 -0800
        Re: Experiences/guidance on teaching Python as a first programming language Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-12-12 15:20 +1100
      Re: Experiences/guidance on teaching Python as a first programming language bob gailer <bgailer@gmail.com> - 2013-12-12 11:51 -0500
      Re: Experiences/guidance on teaching Python as a first programming language Larry Martell <larry.martell@gmail.com> - 2013-12-12 16:18 -0500
        Re: Experiences/guidance on teaching Python as a first programming language Frank Miles <fpm@u.washington.edu> - 2013-12-13 16:21 +0000

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