Closed-source considered harmful (was: JavaScript considered harmful)

[Donn Cave]

Quoth Ben Logan <ben at wblogan.net>:
...
| Likewise, the current and emerging generation of primarily windows
| users, have it bored into their heads that anything other than
| pointing and clicking is too complicated for them to understand.  The
| result is the equivalent of a bunch of motorists who don't know how to
| look at the fuel guage to see if they are fixing to run out of fuel,
| much less actually pump fuel into the tank.
|
| I know people who have been using computers for years, and don't even
| understand simple concepts like the difference between files and
| directories.  The result is that they are constantly getting
| themselves into trouble that could be easily avoided.  After helping
| some of these people for a few minutes I feel very sorry for the tech
| support people they call on. :)
|
| Contrary to what it may sound like, I don't look down on these people
| as sub-intelligent.  I simply think that computers should be
| approached like everything else: it is a tool, and tools must be used
| properly.  Ease of use is no substitute for understanding.

Haven't been religiously following the thread, but I think this is
coming from Oleg's assertion that open source is good because it
allows you to see inside your software and therefore understand it
better.  Applies to these people?  I mean, if they could see how a
filesystem is implemented, they'd sure have a deeper appreciation
of the difference between files and directories (or was that a joke -
sure a directory isn't a file?)  But that's kind of a tough slog for
someone who previously hasn't shown a lot of interest in the technical
stuff.

To veer back off topic, my theory is that we're reluctant to invest a
lot of time in learning software because it's so ephemeral.  If I knew
I'd be using this stuff for the next 20 years, or even the next 2 years,
then it would be easier to think about sitting down with the documentation.
"Innovation" makes experience superficial.

	Donn