My perspective is that doing things with a computer is meant to make them easier, not harder.
Its got to the point now, where things that used to be simple, like buying a train ticket, seem to involve visiting 3 websites, and plowing through 6 screens on each, and filling in your details 4 times.
The point of computers is to automate repetitive tasks, so that we are released from the burden. But every government or business wants us to jump through their hoops, their system, not find some better way that it could be done.
For example, maybe I could hash my details onto a blockchain, and buying a train ticket would be a simple one click operation where personal details, id verification and payment are all seamlessly handled in a hassle free way.
I wanted to ID through the post office for this companies house thing, because there is one right next to my office, and getting the PDF for this ID check on my phone was less hassle than installing the app, I could just nip down there at lunchtime and hey its even nice to have some real human interaction in the process too. But no, that would be too easy, too much like the old days, when things were actually simpler to do on the whole.
My mother says, when my dad passes away, and she has to deal with all the bills, she wants an electric bill based on a real meter read, and to pay it by writing a check and sticking it in the post! The only thing that ever got her intersted in trying out a computer was that she could view property ads on it, but after trying that she said it was quicker just to scan the paper magazine they still publish and read the particulars.
Its got to the point now, where things that used to be simple, like buying a train ticket, seem to involve visiting 3 websites, and plowing through 6 screens on each, and filling in your details 4 times.
The point of computers is to automate repetitive tasks, so that we are released from the burden. But every government or business wants us to jump through their hoops, their system, not find some better way that it could be done.
For example, maybe I could hash my details onto a blockchain, and buying a train ticket would be a simple one click operation where personal details, id verification and payment are all seamlessly handled in a hassle free way.
I wanted to ID through the post office for this companies house thing, because there is one right next to my office, and getting the PDF for this ID check on my phone was less hassle than installing the app, I could just nip down there at lunchtime and hey its even nice to have some real human interaction in the process too. But no, that would be too easy, too much like the old days, when things were actually simpler to do on the whole.
My mother says, when my dad passes away, and she has to deal with all the bills, she wants an electric bill based on a real meter read, and to pay it by writing a check and sticking it in the post! The only thing that ever got her intersted in trying out a computer was that she could view property ads on it, but after trying that she said it was quicker just to scan the paper magazine they still publish and read the particulars.
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