Heh, well figured that there was really no way to write that without getting someone fired up.  Agewise, I'm definately leaning more towards being an "old folk" than a young one, so I could be knocking anyone in my own age group :)  What I was trying to say, I think, was that there's a responsibility to learn the technology that you are using.  Or better, there "should" be.  At the very least in a basic way.

In fact, I think 3rd world people, given the chance to access computer technology would be eager and excited to learn it.

I'm also not trying to write from an extremist point of view and it seems that it's coming across that way.  It doesn't mean that nothing should be simplified, refined or streamlined.  There is a precarious place that straddles making something easy to use and making something that is so simplified that the creative process and choices get left out.

The Material Room is a great example of having two choices, one simplified and one complex.

I also feel the same way about the editing tools panel.  We have rotate, twist, translate, scale and so forth and then we also have direct manipulation, which builds all of those things into one widget.

In my forum example,  it's obvious that folks that can read a forum can read a manual and also press "Control-F" to search it.  Again, it's not an extreme comment as to say "never ask on a forum for anything, ever." :)  Maybe I'm just weird but I go to the manual first and if I can't find it or the answer leaves me with questions, then its time to seek some other help from the community ;)

.