| I guess the way to test your theory would be to look at users who had IRC to use and nothing else -- no choice. The truth I believe is that users adapt to whatever software they must use. Before the "UI/UX" hype began, before there was Javascript, a long time ago, not as many people had to use computers. It was optional. Many people were computer illiterate and it had little to no impact on their life. Now today, we all know that users no longer have to learn about the command line or configuration files. Everything has been made very easy to fall into. Click or touch an area of a screen and something happens. Great. But... what I see many commenters fail to recognize is that the increase in computer usage since those times has little to do with interfaces and everything to do with the need for everyone in a civilized society to use computers. Because today computers and computer networks are much more powerful, and more useful. They have become a necessary part of everyday life for the civilized world. No one in these societies can claim computer illiteracy anymore. So users learn what they have to in order to get by. This was the same in the 1990's as it is today. Today the amount of learning required to use a computer is almost nil. But if a user, whether in 1992 or in 2016, had to use a computer out of necessity, and the commmand line was the only way to control the computer, you can bet they would learn it. Technical ability nothwithstanding. I have seen this with my own eyes. A lot of the talk about what users want and don't want, or what they will and will not do is all in the mind of the developer. The truth is people today are forced to use computers. They'll use what they are given. And no user is ever forced to learn to use the command line in order to use (be used by) a computer. But if today's users were forced, they could do it. And they would do it because use of a computer has become a necessity. Also, people born after 1993 have no fear of computers. They'll learn anything that is put in front of them. It just so happens that what is put before them is a boatload of "UI/UX" hype. They take the bait - hook, line and sinker. No surprise. Computer usage has changed since the birth of IRC but it has nothing to do with "UI/UX". There was a time when people in the civilized world could abstain from using a computer; that time has passed. |