I didn't understand what I was doing the first few times I edited my registry and honestly I still don't know what I'm doing most the time I edit my registry, I only know that most the time it's worked out.
I could lecture you on the adiabatic contours of the Otto cycle engine. I have a degree in this shit. That does not mean you need to know what I know in order to check the timing on your car's motor. There's an admirable pragmatism to knowing enough to solve your problems, knowing enough to tell when your out of your depth, and knowing that knowledge beyond these two milestones is only worthwhile if it interests you. I agree with cgod on registry hax. There is no part of my brain that is rewarded with knowing the structure of Windows metadata. I'd rather use the computer for what I bought it for, thanks. I once had to install Knoppix and a brand new motherboard in order to reassemble a 4-disk ZFS RAID5 cluster in man-down formation in order to resurrect my photos. I pulled it off. I got my photos. And fuck Knoppix, fuck ZFS, fuck RAID5 and fuck "finding that out" when I got my damn photos. That shit is tedious, yo, and my life is not enriched one iota by delving into the intricacies of sudo calls.
I mean, why not get a masters in computer science? I just need it to work, that's enough for me. If I sometimes know what the values I'm editing in my registry are and it's helpful knowledge that's great, but I don't really feel the need to endlessly examine what's happening every time I edit my registry. What's keeping me? The knowledge is only valuable so far as I can get my shit to work, so I guess need is stopping me.
I think that's what the article is talking about. That lack of need is what's making us computer illiterate. I'm not criticizing you in any way. I'm just saying that as technologies become more and more user-friendly and do everything for us, there'll be less and less of a need for us to know what exactly we're doing. You already know to clean your registries. I would say the author thinks you can use a computer.
I'm not talking about cleaning my registries, but ah well. There will always be a level of knowledge that a normal competent user will not be very knowledgeable. Every thing this guy is complaining about is one seach away from not being a problem. Specialization is real and valuable, I don't think this guy would recommend that the average user edit their registry values but would probably give an approving nod to anyone that did.
Agreed. Isn't he saying though that it may have gotten to the point where some don't even know what to google search for?