From: utzoo!decvax!pur-ee!uiucdcs!uicsovax!kline Newsgroups: net.micro Title: Re: Orphaned Response - (nf) Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.345 Posted: Fri Aug 6 07:31:31 1982 Received: Sun Aug 8 09:14:02 1982 #R:we13:-27600:uicsovax:3700007:37777777600:2130 uicsovax!kline Jun 23 17:44:00 1982 The problem is in the software. Hardly any of the software manufacturers for microcomputers make any attempt whatsoever to target their software at the "average user." Most of the time, the documentation is nonexistent, very poor, or aimed at someone who is knowledgeable in the field of microcomputers. The programs that are available are mostly games, granted, but there is a wide, untapped market. Home lighting control and security, for example--with a phone interface, a speech synthesizer, and a touch-tone decoder, the average person could easily inquire about and control the status of his house from far away. This sort of thing is simple--if only a company would take the time to make the software and hardware as easy to install as, say, a washing machine. The problem is that everyone in the computer field thinks of microcomputers in terms of computers. What can they do? Well, they can crunch numbers, store vast amounts of data, communicate with a large network, and can be excellent text processors. Fine. These are the *ACADEMIC* uses of computers (micros being a subset). The *PERSONAL* applications of computers are different; the audience is much different. They don't care what the computer can do, what kind of microprocessor it has, what kinds of networks it can connect to, or even how many floating-point multiplies it can perform in a second. They are interested only in a machine to make life easier and more entertaining for themselves. They want to be able to organize business records, keep notes, type out letters, and so on. And those companies which first come out with programs that the personal computer user really wants, well DOCUMENTED and EASY TO USE and MEETING THE NEEDS of the home computer users, will be making a buck. There is an application out there for computers. The long worn statement that computers can make anything easier is true. It's just that the home applications have gone unnoticed for so long. They are NOT the same as our ideas of computer applications, and the two sets of needs will never meet. God help us if they ever do. But the want is there nevertheless.