Some home installations just don’t work, OK?
Some of the materials aimed at the home computer enthusiast need more “taming” before we accept the manufacturers’ claims that no special knowledge is necessary. Today, I happened to be involved in setting up some “consumer level” products as the friend on the other end of the telephone. I don’t think the experience is very much fun for those without the attentive buddy.
First on the list was a simple question. How can I pick up my email from home. Many of the leading ISPs have decided to fight spam by making their customers do the hard stuff. Port blocking doesn’t solve the problem. A recent statistic puts spam at 95% of email, so making the person that happens to have both a home and an office network to visit with their laptop go “the extra mile” and change SMTP settings several times a day is warped. Unproductive solutions that tell the user “We don’t care that you are inconvenienced” won’t stop those idiots who’ve purchased their first million email addresses.
Later on, I had a call to help in setting up a home wireless router. Lots of documentation and a CD to help with setup is wonderful marketing. But, what about when things just don’t work? Something as simple as “resetting” the router is mentioned but not explained. When the computer and the router don’t communicate, and the home user doesn’t have a pile of extra Cat-5 cables around the house… nothing else will happen. The new router goes back in the box to await another day.
I’ll bet this happens more often then anyone wants to admit. The average home computer owner isn’t ready to do network analysis. The average home computer owner only has the materials that came in the box. The poor average Joe (or Jane) is not going to enjoy the experience or want to recommend the product to a neighbour. To those who sell this stuff, remember that your name is the one on the box.
There, rant mode off. I had an easy day.
