Let's turn the argument around a little.

The world is full of people struggling to get by. Computers have invaded their lives, without them asking for it. Sure, they realize those machines are powerful, and are increasingly essential, but they don't really like them. Nevertheless, they pony up the cash and get one. They try to make it work, but sometimes it just doesn't. Now they feel frustrated, confused, and maybe even cheated. So they call for help, and get you on the line.

I mean, don't you as a technical support professional have a responsibility to help them? And furthermore, wouldn't you -as a human being- want to help them? Otherwise, why did you take this job?

At the root of the problem, is that liking computers and liking people are a very rare combination. I don't mean liking your friends. I mean liking to talk to strangers on the phone who have very different worldviews from your own--getting a thrill from making their lives better. This makes it very hard to fill tech support positions with people who are both competent and happy. (Don't get me wrong. By this definition, I don't like people either. That's why I am a programmer.)

I'll take you at your word that your questions are serious, and try to give serious answers.

The world is a big place, with lots of valuable things to learn. Time is scarce, intellects are imperfect, and interests vary. It's almost 2010, and all I know about electricity is how to plug stuff in and how to call an electrician. I know very little about accounting, tax law, or financial investment and have no plans to learn even though they would be useful. I expect to see more solar power, but don't plan to learn much about it, even if I buy a house that uses it.

I make my living with computers because of the happy coincidence that I like them and I can get paid for it. The people you are railing against are your customers. Whether directly or indirectly, they are paying you money to know things so that they don't have to. Their time is apparently better spent being dentists or trapeeze artists. Aren't you glad you don't have to learn to do those things? Despite what you say, I think that auto-mechanics are a perfect analogy. Sometimes I ask my mechanic stupid questions, but he smiles and takes my money. We're both largely satisfied with the arrangement.

Maybe I'm just getting old and losing my sense of humor, but it seems like these "ha ha users are dumb" stories get less and less funny. As the audience for personal computing continues to grow, the number of senile, mentally ill or simply ignorant users will also grow. Mocking them leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

The UI in that video certainly looks like a step forward. I look forward to an upgrade at my company.

7.0.3, actually.

I don't know anything about the server end of things--my complaints are strictly as an end user.

...the horrors that must lie waiting within the source code for Lotus Notes.

Schools could use the Notes source to teach the basics of how to build slow, confusing, fragile applications with utterly non-standard user interfaces. Notes is by far the worst piece of software I use regularly. On the other hand, opening its source would let me fix that bug that keeps reminding me I missed the same meeting reminders over and over again.

The key sentence in the article is:

To rephrase: If your product isn't valuable enough for people to spend money on, it will be hard to make money selling it. The rest of the article is a fairly well-written review of an obscure add-on, with very little insight about open vs. proprietary software.

fruey sends in a New Scientist analysis that questions the Long Tail theory. The theory, first described in Wired, describes how retailers with low stocking and distribution costs can profit by selling a large number of unique products to very small niche markets. But the four studies summarized in the article examine different markets and conclude that this business model may be harder to exploit than originally expected. In fact, the importance of blockbuster products which are sold to an enormous number of buyers may be growing rather than shrinking. One possible reason is that recommendation services, like those provided my Amazon and Netflix, may concentrate interest on a few items and take market share away from the niche items.

Effective C++, Scott Meyers -- I own the 2nd Edition, but there may be a newer one. This is the best book I've seen for really making sense out of C++. It is well-organized, covers its chosen topics thoroughly, and is fun to read.