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I remember getting a laptop with Windows 8 about ten years ago and upon turning it on, the Out-of Box Experience (OOBE) "greeted" me, something like 'Hi. We're getting things set up for you'
"Hi?" "We?" You are a piece of software. There is no "we" here. I can't even begin to express how infantilizing that sounds to my ears.
Anyway, I didn't last long on Windows for that laptop. /rant
I know. A few years later, I was helping my mom set up a new laptop and during the same OOBE, I made pretty much the same comment, and she seemed to think it was just fine or at least not weird-sounding.
Come to think of it, I wonder if it's for the same thing that gets people to refer to Google Assistant/Siri/et c. as 'she'. I've noticed that a lot also.
It's normal behavior, we assign gender to all sorts of objects be they made of metal and float on water or are just a series of electrons informing metal gates.
The message is fine for the true target audience which is vastly different from the audience of the 80s and 90s. Microsoft and Apple (well, Apple HAS been using friendly language since the 80s!) are smart to use friendly language.
Plus, it gets us all used to our corporate god-kings when we're dominated by the AI angels.
Somehow the invocation of esoteric mastery, invoked by hex codes, could intimidate the ‘user’ into compliant (low cost) behavior via the appearance of authority
I’m fine with that - it’s clear that “We” is Microsoft.
The infantilizing error messages are where it’s infuriating because it comes off as if they’re making fun of you. “Oopsie woopsie we did a fuckywucky and all your data is gone! Cherriooooo couldn’t be me!”