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> I used to be a part-time bank teller when I was in university and I have
> had to help people figure them out.
>
> Granted, they were older people who were not accustomed to technology
> and were afraid the machine would steal their money.
Hmm, I may have missed a step: How about a telephone? It's not a
computer, but it sort of talks to one. How many people can't work a
telephone?
(Working an iPhone is another matter, of course...)
> We also had to tell them NOT to write the PIN on the card itself.
Oh, I'm sure to this day lots of people write the PIN down and put it in
their wallet somewhere. Then again, I hear in America people still hide
their door keys under their doormat...
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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Invisible wrote:
> (I've heard stories of people putting the receipt in their wallet,
I have been at an ATM with six or seven people in line when someone came
running up and said all excitedly "Did anyone find the 30 dollars I just
took out?"
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
Serving Suggestion:
"Don't serve this any more. It's awful."
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Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> So can everybody use an ATM because it only performs a very simple task?
> Or because the people who make them spend a fortune on usability
> testing? Or something else? Logically, there's got to be a reason.
Some of each. The simpler and more focused the task, the easier it is to
design something that is easy to use. Especially when you throw sufficient
UI at it. The "flashing 12:00" problem is that manufacturers didn't want to
add extra buttons and displays to the box. Once people had a 40-button
remote control and a genlock in the VCR, that stopped being a problem.
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
Serving Suggestion:
"Don't serve this any more. It's awful."
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Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> Wikipedia asserts that many newer ATMs run Windows - which would be
> extremely disturbing if true...
You would be amazed at how many cash registers, ATMs, and even vending
machines are actually running Windows.
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
Serving Suggestion:
"Don't serve this any more. It's awful."
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On 26/10/2010 8:00 PM, nemesis wrote:
>> I don't know if I believe that.
> I can believe that if Andrew is talking in the third person...:)
>
>
I did not want to say that :-;
--
Best Regards,
Stephen
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>> Wikipedia asserts that many newer ATMs run Windows - which would be
>> extremely disturbing if true...
>
> You would be amazed at how many cash registers, ATMs, and even vending
> machines are actually running Windows.
Why on earth would you pay vast sums of money to use software that only
provides features that you don't actually need?
I'm not denying your claim, only that it makes no rational sense. I've
seen Windows running on plenty of PCs in various retail stores. M&S had
the Windows 2000 logo obviously visible on the touchscreens of their
checkout machines too. And don't even get me started on the video
adverts I saw on London Euston all proclaiming that "STOP 0x00000001E
has occurred"...
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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On Tue, 26 Oct 2010 19:18:56 +0100, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> So can everybody use an ATM because it only performs a very simple task?
That, and it's a task people do on at least a weekly basis, in general.
Jim
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On Tue, 26 Oct 2010 12:53:12 -0700, Darren New wrote:
> You would be amazed at how many cash registers, ATMs, and even vending
> machines are actually running Windows.
Yep. And airline information boards (always fun to see one of those
bluescreened) and here in Utah, the light rail system ticket kiosks as
well.
I had an interesting discussion with a guy who works for Red Hat last
week about this as well - seems odd to us that the banks are willing to
spend so much money on Windows licenses for kiosks when such tasks are so
trivial that an OS like Linux which can be set up as a simple appliance
fairly easily.
(Of course it's not just about the technical challenges but also about
support)
Jim
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Orchid XP v8 <voi### [at] dev null> wrote:
> >> Wikipedia asserts that many newer ATMs run Windows - which would be
> >> extremely disturbing if true...
> >
> > You would be amazed at how many cash registers, ATMs, and even vending
> > machines are actually running Windows.
>
> Why on earth would you pay vast sums of money to use software that only
> provides features that you don't actually need?
to blame someone. Plus, the Aero interface is sexier. oops...
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On 10/26/2010 3:45 PM, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> Hmm, I may have missed a step: How about a telephone? It's not a
> computer, but it sort of talks to one. How many people can't work a
> telephone?
Talk to someone who was around when phones switched from a switchboard
to rotary dial, or from dial to push button. May be hard to find
someone, but I bet they will give you a list of complaints similar to
what you hear about computers.
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