My point is that people had to make their computers work, without plug and play etc, and because of this, they learnt how to use their machines. In the case of the PC, I'm sure that people didn't want to pay out £40 for a game just to find out they didn't have enough memory and couldn't play it, so they learnt how to free up memory. Everyone I know who knows a lot (relatively) about computers has had one back in the olden days of DOS, and I'm sure this is no coincidence.

With computers like the Mac and the growing ease of use of PCs (I don't care what anyone says, Win '95 is SO incredibly easy to use compared to DOS), I wonder where the computer-literate experts of the future will come from? Yes, you can learn about them at school (not much, but some) and you can study them at university. But these courses are so much easier to tackle if you have had experience of computers apart from "put this in this hole, and it will work automatically". There's no substitute for having used a computer for 10-15 years before you even get to university.

Now of course, if someone made a computer that ALWAYS worked, with NO exceptions, then there'd be no need for computer experts. But can you see that happening in the near future? Honestly?

Finally, on a PC vs Mac note: sure, the iMac's easy to use, and looks cool, but it doesn't match the PC for raw power. The G3 was up there with PCs when it was released, but now there's PIII, Voodoo 3 and TNT 2. Think about the concept of the iMac - a home computer without a floppy drive? Would you buy an oven without a temperature control? A car without a steering wheel? A house with no doors? (If yes, the men in white coats will come soon).

Kev