"The unanswered question here is, why does this type of environment exist in the first place?"

This type of environment exists because of the ease at purchasing and connecting a personal computer to the net.

Look at our history on this:

20 years ago, the average person didn't have the ability to purchase a home PC. Since then, the prices have fallen, more and more people have them, yet, like anything new, there is a learning curve. When the car was introduced, it was the same way. Then legislature came down and demanded that you know "how" to drive before you attempt to drive one in public. It was required that you be at least 16 before you were even allowed to try to learn to drive. We have computer users starting at 5 years old that have net access and no idea what's out there and their parents aren't savy enough with it's operation to know any better.

We have people buying computers for the sole reason of getting online and being able to use email, web, MSN, ICQ, AIM, et all to communicate with their family and friends who don't know the first thing about it, other than it "just works". Their account name/number, email address ,etc is akin to the trophy that the pro hunter has of the largest game he's killed on a hunt. They're proud of it and they brag about it. "Hey, yea, I got an email address now, it's ...". Yet unlike the hunter who loads his own rounds with the proper powder charge, the proper weight of the bullet to bring down his game, knows the limitations and ranges of his prefered rifle, and can maintain and clean it in the darkness without light, the average computer user has no idea how the computer works nor have they the desire to learn. In their mind, it simply "works". When it fails to "work" they call a tech who does know how it's supposed to work, to look at it and fix it. If the tech tells them that they need to replace something due to failure or age, they get bent because it obviously doesn't "work" anymore. They have no desire to maintain systems or stay current with patches because it's a computer, in the world of science fiction, these things can do that on their own, there shouldn't need to be any human intervention.

In the 80's, we bought our first PC because it was cool. We had to learn how they funcitoned because it was just us techies and the manufacturer to repair them. If the mfm drive failed, we had to determine if it was the controller, the mainboard, or the drive itself. If the floppy wouldn't read, we had to know if it was a bad cable, controller card or a thrashed out floppy. We didn't have anyone to go to for repair or maintenance on the thing, it was just "us". We had no choice to learn how and why it worked. It's what made us what we are today.

The average consumer buys one to play games, connect to the net so they can use EBay, ICQ, AIM, etc. They don't have a need to know how or why it works. They have tech support to talk to when something goes wrong.

In the Mossberg article, he directed his 24 word "word" to us techie types telling us to save our energy and fix the problem.

It's sad to say this, but the only way that I can see currently that would help this, is to require a competency test prior to allowing anyone to purchase a computer system let alone connect it to the net. When they sign up for an internet account, they need to take yet another competency test. Now, folks will say this is crazy but in reality, I assure you, that it's not. When you decide to use HAM Radio, you take a test for every meter range you wish to use. Otherwise, you don't get the equipment. When you decide that you want to drive people around for a profession, you get a specific license. If you want to drive heavy equipment, you get yet a different license. If you want to fly a plane, own automatic weapons, experiment with explosives, become an EMT, become a Doctor, a lawyer, a judge, an Network Engineer, a Cisco Engineer, you have to get a license or take a competency test.

Now, when you have a piece of equipment that with it's misuse, can cause you to lose your total bank balance, your identity, or your lifes work, or lack of responsibility on your part be allowed to do the above to other parties throughout the world, be any different?

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