The Hard Drive Is Inside the Computer 876
davidmwilliams writes "Those of us who work in technology have a jargon all of our very own. We know the difference between CPUs and GPUs, between SSD and HD, let alone HD and SDTV! Yet, our users are flat out calling everything 'the hard drive.' Why is it so?" As much as I hate to admit it, this particular thing drives me nuts. You don't call the auto shop and tell them that your engine is broken when your radio breaks!
That will never be as aggravating as memory vs... (Score:5, Informative)
That will never be as aggravating as memory vs. storage. "I need more memory for my program" is more likely to mean "I'm out of disk space" than "I need more RAM". And the error messages specifically say they need more disk space, but they heard once that a computer stores things in its "memory" and they stopped learning right then and there. Just turned off their fucking brains, and went to sleep.
Re:Modem Box (Score:5, Informative)
No, no it's not solely digital. It's modulated on much higher frequency analog than voice (hence the microfilter can split them), but it is most certainly not a digital technology.
Be informed before ranting.
Must be an American thing (Score:1, Informative)
I've never once heard of anyone referring to a PC as a HDD here in the UK. 'Computer' or 'PC' is all I've ever actually heard it been called. Even with older people who haven't had a great deal of exposure, they at least refer to it as 'tower', 'unit' or even 'system' - all of which are perfectly valid.
Re:Modem Box (Score:3, Informative)
Not to mention ADSL modem, there's no such fucking thing. Modem = Modulator/Demodulator, a simple AD-converter. There's no AD-converting in ADSL. ADSL is solely digital.
This is caused by the lack of a suitable alternative term. The actual technical term for what most people call a DSL or cable modem is "CPE".
Customer Premise Equipment.
Literally, "that little box in your house."
Re:Modem Box (Score:3, Informative)
"With standard ADSL (annex A), the band from 25.875 kHz to 138 kHz is used for upstream communication, while 138 kHz [to] 1104 kHz is used for downstream communication."
Re:Modem Box (Score:5, Informative)
Not to mention ADSL modem, there's no such fucking thing. Modem = Modulator/Demodulator, a simple AD-converter. There's no AD-converting in ADSL. ADSL is solely digital.
Um, almost, but not quite correct. Actually, not even close, but it's a nice day out today. ADSL (asynchronous digital subscriber line) modems do, in fact, exist. Lots of them. Every single ADSL drop is going to have a modem. Now a modem is indeed a modulator / demodulator, but that's a general-purpose term. And, in DSL signalling, there is, in fact, an analog carrier. The digital signals are being modulated into carrier tones. DSL does not create a baseband digital line sending low and high digital voltages between your computer and the remote processing (DSLAM) -- it sends a modulated signal pushed up out of baseband. It is most definitely analog, and there is most definitely mod/demod activity. So despite modem being something you might think of as being only an old-school term, it really still applies. (Even to cable TV/internet interfaces; those are also very highly analog devices at the front end.)
See, eg, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asymmetric_Digital_Subscriber_Line [wikipedia.org] for a decent overview.
But, more to the point here, a mod/demod pair is not a simple A-to-D converter. And there most certainly is a ton of analog-to-digital conversion going on in ADSL, in both directions.
When it comes down to it, the only place there are strictly digital signals are in strictly local communications (with some exceptions like RS-232 and related and derived standards like RS-242, USB, SATA, that can run over longer distances) that exist primarily as point-to-point connections between individual ICs. And even then, when you actually look at what's being signalled on the line, the distinction between digital and analog gets harder and harder to make over the years.
Re:Talk about jargon (Score:3, Informative)
verb (used with object)
1. to look at; observe: Now, twig the man climbing there, will you?
2. to see; perceive: Do you twig the difference in colors?
3. to understand.
verb (used without object)
4. to understand.
Re:That will never be as aggravating as memory vs. (Score:2, Informative)
And that one is extremely hard to explain. The closest that I can do to explain this is compare RAM with short-time memory and Storage with long-time memory. Alas, most people have problems understanding that too.
I've also tried scrapbook (RAM) versus bookshelf with books (Storage).
Nothing seems to really get it through, even if you try to explain it without analogies. The problem here is that the concept of RAM is too hard to grasp and the the terms MegaByte/GigaByte are linked to Storage in their minds.
Re:Meh (Score:5, Informative)
What are friends for?
Seriously, if I tell my friend to buy a new hard drive, I expect him to buy a hard drive. If he needs my help connecting it or installing the OS, sure, I can do that, but I like to avoid buying things for other people (because if I take exactly the amount of money I paid for the drive, I will lose some money that I paid for the gas (but I don't know the exact amount), if I take more money then I should better know exactly how much I paid for the gas, so that I don't take too much). Luckily all my friends know how a hard drive looks like. On the other hand, if he didn't know how a particular component looks like, but I have the old one, I can always give it to him and say "go to the store and buy one of this".
Re:Modem Box (Score:3, Informative)
The process is called "metonymy". (Score:5, Informative)
At least that is the name that rhetoricians use for it: referring to a thing by something associated with it.
When we call soldiers "boots on the ground" that is metonymy. A special case is synecdoche, using the part for the whole ("blade" for "sword").
In any case, its wired into human language and thought. If you look in a dictionary, you'll find words with three or more definitions. Usually there is a process of metonymy going on. "Justice" entered the English language meaning something to mete punishment or reward according to the right of the recipient. It has come to mean a lot of other things: fairness, righteousness, the law, a judge or other legal official, etc.
Yes, it is fair (Score:3, Informative)
Ok, it's not really fair to pick on people for not knowing something that isn't in their field. I'd hate for a doctor to mock me because I don't actually know where my liver is or what on earth the spleen is for.
Actually, the last few times I visited a physician, they mocked me for not being familiar with internal medicine. (Srsly.) I take this as carte blanche to mock people outside of my profession for not being reasonably familiar with it.
I usually don't mock my users, however, since I'm a professional.
Re:IT Crowd (Score:1, Informative)
From the transcript [theitcrowd.co.uk]:
Denholm: I'm gonna put you in I.T. because you said on your CV you have a lot of experience with computers.
Jen: I did say that on my CV, yes. I have a lot of experience with the whole computer thing you know, emails, sending emails, receiving emails, deleting emails, I could go on.
Denholm: Do.
Jen: The web. Using a mouse, mices, using mice. Clicking, double clicking. The computer screen, of course. The keyboard. The... bit that goes on the floor down there.
Denholm: The hard drive.
Jen: Correct.
Denholm: Well, you certainly seem to know your stuff. That's settled. I've got a good feeling about you Jen and they need a new manager.
Jen: Fantastic, so the people I'll be working with, what are they like?
Denholm: Standard nerds!
A list of anomalies I got working in tech support (Score:4, Informative)
Apparently the monitor is the computer and the computer is the CPU.
In addition to being called the computer, the monitor is also often referred to as the t.v. and the "window." I once had a lady that was adamant that they called the operating system Windows because you viewed it in the window.
Both the monitor and computer both have their separate power cable. Just because you have your monitor cable going between the monitor and computer doesn't mean that one is going to power the other.
Unfortunately, there isn't a fuse to replace when the computer won't turn on. Also, they stopped using tubes in computers some ages ago.
Laptop's are actually "labtops," because the original intent was to make a computer that was easy to use in a lab environment. It's just coincidental that they also work nicely in your lap.
When someone says the word "memory," don't even try to figure out what they mean. Just troubleshoot. Not enough memory for their program could mean anything from hard drive space to ram to having integrated video and not being able to play a game.
There is really no need to have a fire extinguisher close to the computer. Honestly. The cd burner isn't really burning anything.
Your best costumer is the one who knows absolutely nothing and doesn't claim to know anything. I successfully walked an 85 year old lady through a motherboard replacement on the phone once. On the other hand, I often had a hard time getting "IT guys" to follow simple instructions for troubleshooting devices. I don't care who you are, I'm not going to send you a replacement modem when there is a known registry fix that will make it work just fine. ...
It's funny, you almost develop an entirely knew "language" when dealing with laypeople over the phone. I could go on and on...
Re:Modem Box (Score:4, Informative)
Um, almost, but not quite correct. Actually, not even close, but it's a nice day out today. ADSL (asynchronous digital subscriber line)
Replying to, and correcting myself, here. Apparently I need more coffee this morning: The A in ADSL is asymmetric not asynchronous. Sorry about that.
TheFuzzball (Score:2, Informative)
Re:When you work with it daily..... (Score:2, Informative)
Example: woman calls and says "the printer is working, but it won't print." I spend three minutes trying to figure out in what way "it's working" other than printing, so I can get half a clue about what she means. Is it working from other computers but not hers, etc?
Finally she blurts out with "can't you stop asking me questions and just FIX it?"
To which I replied: "I AM fixing it. I have to find out what's broken first."
Turned out that the printer wasn't working at all, and a turn off/on fixed it just fine. Apparently the phrase "the printer is working" meant "the power light is on."
Honestly, I hear more people call the box "the CPU" than I hear them call it "the hard drive." Maybe it's a regional preference.
And while I'm okay with computer illiterates saying so rather than making stuff up, it does really frustrate me when they use that as an excuse to shut off their brains instead of trying to let me help them. Sometimes questions as simple as "what do you see on the screen" are met with "oh, I don't know, I'm not very good with the computers you know. Can't you just come down here?" Is the mouse working? What does it say in the top-left corner of the window? Simple things that a child can answer, but an adult is so convinced they don't understand they're unwilling to try.
Hands up those who think they have seen Big Ben! (Score:4, Informative)
Re:That will never be as aggravating as memory vs. (Score:4, Informative)
This only works so long as neither you nor the person you are 'communicating' with have any actual familiarity with the work flow in a real kitchen. Your 'analogy' would be confusing as hell to anyone who does.
Re:That will never be as aggravating as memory vs. (Score:5, Informative)
Nice. I usually use the "computer as office" analogy.
Hard drive = filing cabinet, where you store your files.
System memory = Desktop; where you take out files and work (you only have so much desk space before things back up).
CPU = you/others in the office
Programs = tasks you're doing
Its usually simple enough that people can grasp it, and you can usually expand things pretty easily.
"you want to add more RAM? that's like getting a bigger desktop so you can have more projects open on it at once"
"you want a faster CPU? that's like you being able to work faster"
"multiple cores? Okay, imagine it wasn't just you sitting in the office, but there were four people"
Other hardware becomes office equipment (depending on what it is and how its used), but that starts to push the analogy a bit. :)
Re:That will never be as aggravating as memory vs. (Score:3, Informative)
No, anything based on Netburst [Pentium 4] would be more likely to be "an oven"
Re:It's our fault... (Score:3, Informative)