Unpredictable. Unfocused. Just like life.

I don't read Information Week, but fortunately Ken Camp does, and he found this article:

Microsoft: Less Than Half Of U.S. Adults Are Up To Speed On Tech Terms

A Microsoft-sponsored survey found that less than 50% of U.S. adults are hip to the latest technology buzzwords, and even fewer can say what VoIP, RSS, or tagging means.

Ken highlighted one particular quote for comment:

The other key quote? - “Microsoft is trying to educate the masses about the technology, and while [it’s] a noble attempt, I think the general U.S. public just wants to use the technology without necessarily understanding it,” said Ken Winell, CEO of Expert Collab. This one I think is, well, a crock of shit. Microsoft doesn’t give a damn about educating anyone about anything. Microstoft wants you to understand Microsoft so you’ll buy Microsoft. And they prefer you remain ignorant, but loyal to the Borg brand that permeates our existence. And all the fluff around educating users and customer is just that. . . fluff.

The fact is, nobody is really trying to educate anybody about this stuff. That would require us to create analogies to what they already know, but we're all more interested in new names and acronyms to make simple ideas complex.

Bloggers just assume that everyone who reads their comments knows exactly what they are talking about, without bothering to explain it. RSS and Atom? What do those terms have to do with anything? VoIP? That's just fine if you have a clue what IP means in the first place. As long as we insist on this acronym soup, perhaps to show just how smart we are, we marginalize ourselves just as any insular organization, be they engineers, car mechanics, or cardiac surgeons.

If we really want to educate people we need to reach out to them, to be relevant to their lives. I don't need to know what DOHC or V8 mean in order to drive, and I shouldn't to know what VoIP means to make a phone call. I don't need to know what POTS stands for to make a phone call today either.

Ken is right. Microsoft - just like every other company - isn't trying to educate anyone. They are trying to sell them software, and if ignorant people buy just as much software then that is just fine.

Besides, why do we assume that people must understand technology buzzwords, which by definition will eventually go away, in order to use technology? Truly great technology should be usable by the average person without any knowledge. Teenagers don't know CDMA from TDMA from GSM, but they certainly understand how to use a cell phone. And millions of people who don't know what AAC or MP3 mean are quite capable of using an iPod.

We technology people seem to have an inane need to make technology complex, name it cryptically, and then wonder why everyone doesn't suddenly understand and start talking amongst themselves about it. We need to get over ourselves.

Build great technology that's easy to use and solves a problem. But don't expect people to understand it. Just get out of the way and let them use it.