People don’t buy a microwave or TV because they want a big box to decorate the room with. They buy microwaves to cook food quickly and they buy TV’s to receive entertainment. People don’t buy cars because they like having a monthly payment and something to fill the garage. They buy cars to transport them from point A to point B. The list goes on and on and on.
When people buy computers, again they are not spending money just so they have something to put on their desk. They buy the computer for the results it can give them. The computer is multi-faceted and can mean different things to different people. Some want it for its ability to communicate via email. Some want it for its ability to entertain through games. Some want it for its ability to process numbers for personal finances. Most users have some combination of the above and other goals when making a computer purchase.
The average home user thinks of the computer the way they do any other tool or appliance in their home. When they want a hole, they get out the drill. When they want food heated up quickly, they use the microwave. When they want to get from point A to point B, they use the car. And, when they want to communicate via email or research via the Internet they use the computer. They don’t necessarily see it as any more or less complex than using the toaster or the VCR. They turn it on and use it.
People are used to general care and maintenance of appliances. They clean out the little tray of bread crumbs under the toaster (well, maybe not- but they’re supposed to!), they clean the heads on their VCR, get the oil changed and the tires rotated on the car, etc. For the computer they might dust off the keyboard and monitor or if they’re advanced maybe defragment the hard drive on occasion.
The computer is a unique “appliance” however in that there is a responsibility to also keep it secure. You may not have to worry about someone secretly using your drill to make holes where they shouldn’t. Odds are good that you making popcorn in your microwave will not set off a chain reaction that makes every microwave in your county inoperable. Your VCR is not connected to every other VCR in the world.
