Short answer: No. Computers shouldn’t be easy to use. But the things people use computers for should be done easily. Allow me to explain.

A computer is a beastly device. It’s very complex. Few people who buy computers bother using them to their full potential. Even the programmers and software designers never fully exploit the abilities of the computer’s hardware, at least not for years after the hardware is introduced. To make the computer a popular consumer devices, however, compromises were made.

The whole notion of user-friendly was adopted early on to relieve anxious consumers who feared the overly technical nature of the beast computer. That fear was well-founded. But salespeople aren’t interested in training folks how to use computers. So to sell more, they insisted (and the users demanded) that software be made easier to use. While the result was what the sales people wanted wanted, it basically put a pretty mask on something that remained ugly.

I’m not arguing for a return to the cryptic old days of the command prompt. Even back then people were frustrated by computers. Yet the complex process did help folks understand what it was that they were doing. And that’s the key: To get the most from your computer, you must understand it. All the window dressing of user-friendly graphical goodness is merely chintz and tinsel — a cheap façade.

So to use a computer and get the most from it, you must understand it. Sadly that’s not what today’s users want to do; few people buy a computer to set up a routine maintenance schedule or debug Java. Instead, they want to surf the web, read e-mail, listen to music, play games, and other basic tasks that computers do. And yet, while attempts have been made to produce custom devices, the so-called Internet appliances and computer gaming consoles that do those limited things, they’ve never bested the good ol’ PC; people continue to use and not understand their computer.

I suppose that the basic problem is the utter versatility of the computer, what makes it so dang useful in the first place. If the computer only did one thing, great. That would be easy. But because it does so much — even for the most basic user — the gizmo remains complex and daunting.

My focus as an author is to try to educate people on those computer fundamentals that make using a computer more of a pleasurable and useful experience. If only we had computer education like drivers education! But until there is a model to follow, regrettably, I’ll continue to see people using these powerful devices while they don’t really have a clue as to what’s going on other than superficially. Sigh.