Comment Re:Public Awareness (Score 1) 1002
I think a significant part of the problem is that people don't realize that they have a choice. To the vast majority of computer users, Windows *is* the computer. Ask a typical office worker what operating system they use and you'll get responses ranging from blank stares, to "Office", to "Microsoft". They can't imagine replacing the operating system because they don't even know what an operating system is.
And to an extent, they have a point. A computer is a combination of hardware and software; with a few exceptions, hardware without software is a large doorstop and software without hardware is a stream of bits on some form of media.
There are already a huge number of everyday devices that have embedded hardware and software - cellphones, VCRs, DVDs, and cars, for example. They all need some kind of operating system. But by and large people don't think of these as computers, and even if they didn't, wouldn't care what operating system they ran, much less understand why they should care.
Much as I'd like to think education will help, I think it will take something dramatic to make people start to take notice this. When people start dying because of malfunctions in embedded software, they'll wake up and start asking questions.
And to an extent, they have a point. A computer is a combination of hardware and software; with a few exceptions, hardware without software is a large doorstop and software without hardware is a stream of bits on some form of media.
There are already a huge number of everyday devices that have embedded hardware and software - cellphones, VCRs, DVDs, and cars, for example. They all need some kind of operating system. But by and large people don't think of these as computers, and even if they didn't, wouldn't care what operating system they ran, much less understand why they should care.
Much as I'd like to think education will help, I think it will take something dramatic to make people start to take notice this. When people start dying because of malfunctions in embedded software, they'll wake up and start asking questions.
