So quoth Jeffrey Frazier on the 11th of October, 1998:

Many people have commented about what the "user" wants and what the
"user" can get ahold of. I say that each individual user is a
triviality. I say that the important thing is the forward movement of
the society as a whole. And if that means that we have to leave behind
some certain people (i.e. people who aren't smart enough to follow all
the directions on Netscape's page), then SO BE IT.
I would put forth to you that a person who can not follow all the simple
directions they are presented with when d/ling a new version of Netscape
is not just uncomfortable with computers; this person is outright
stupid.

<end selfish, pitiful tirade>

O.K., I'll bite.

I once played second violin in an orchestra.  I can say without infringing
on my natural pride that I am a VERY ordinary violin player.  However, I was
not uncomfortable with the violin, I was not downright stupid.  I was
inexperienced, I was learning, I had not the years of playing behind me that
others in the orchestra had.

Mr Fuggimator, were you always such an expert on the Internet and computers
in general.  In my organisation (turning over more than $1 billion), I am
seen to be such a person.  I manage our Internet marketing strategy, and I
am responsible for the development of numerous e-commerce applications.  Yet
I remember as a student telling a friend rather proudly all about the
Internet.  I said the Internet was a joint project between Yahoo and
Netscape, living in a building in California.  Netscape had designed the
software, and Yahoo maintained and coordinated the content.  I still don't
know everything, but I think I was wrong.  Again, I was not uncomfortable, I
was not downright stupid, I was inexperienced.

Society IS NOTHING except for a collection of individual users.  Your
contemptuous attitude toward those with somewhat less than your obviously
superior skill and intelligence is very sad.  I don't know what line of work
you are in, but if I indicated to my customers that I knew what was best for
them, that they were immaterial, and that if they couldn't follow Netscape's
simple instructions then they were stupid, then two things would happen.  1
- they would cease to be my customer, and 2 - I would cease to be an
employee.

Those with some marketing knowledge would tell us that society has
progressed through four stages:

*	the first was pre-industrialisation.  Basically, a barter or market
system.
*	the second was industrialisation.  Mass production.  The theory was
- if I can make more widgets than anyone else, I'll makes more money than
anyone else.
*	the third was a sales culture.  Everyone was making heaps of
widgets, the emphasis shifted to selling them better than anyone else.
*	the fourth is a marketing culture, where instead of concentrating on
production or sales, we concentrate on what the consumer needs.  Then we
make it, and it sells itself.

Mr Fuggimator, you have been left behind.  Your theories are outdated - you
belong in the era of industrialisation.  The Internet is enforcing the
marketing culture, whereby even greater personalisation and needs
satisfaction can be accommodated.  Society is TRIVIALITY, the user is
EVERYTHING.

Respectfully (though I acknowledge this is not immediately apparent),

Ben Hillier
Ergon Energy
http://www.ergon.com.au/
mailto:benjamin.hillier(at)ergon.com.au

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