Evan Martin (evan) wrote in evan_tech,
Evan Martin
evan
evan_tech

firefox 1.0 vs. meena

Meena called me last night to ask me a question about setting up firefox. Her uncle ran (what I imagine was) adaware on her computer and it found hundreds of spyware files, and a friend of hers at school told her to switch, and so she did. (I try to not push my technology choices on her, in general; she was surprised to hear that I used firefox, and as far as I can tell was not aware that it was the browser she used on my Linux laptop.)

The reason she called was because she didn't understand what the "import stuff from IE" dialog from the installer was offering. She saw mention of IE and, because she was switching away from it, she didn't think she wanted its settings. And then, later, she went to an HTTPS site and didn't understand what the "this site is encrypted" dialog was telling her.

I mention these because I think it shows we're not all the way there yet. She is the sort of person our software ought to target: intelligent and willing to learn, but also intimidated, afraid of breaking things, and certainly with better things to do than learn what "encrypted" means.

(In happier news, she's dead set on her next computer being a Mac laptop.)
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