I personally wonder how the advance of usability has hurt the educational aspects of a computer. We had a computer when I was a kid, and sure, all I wanted to do was play video games. The problem is, at that time, this required a lot of work. I spent hours trying to figure out how to free up enough memory so the damn things would run. Before that it was messing with an Apple IIe
Computers were a real chore then, and I'm young enough that I was spared much of the difficulties. My little brother, only six years younger, never had any difficulties in doing what he wanted to do. Put the CD in and it automatically fires up. He's never had to do anything about interrupts or whatever to get sound to work, or anything like that, but his computer skills have never been beyond your typical user.
I've often though if I were to have children I'd give them a computer, but I'd intentionally leave it crippled so that some pain is needed to actually use it.
Computers were a real chore then, and I'm young enough that I was spared much of the difficulties. My little brother, only six years younger, never had any difficulties in doing what he wanted to do. Put the CD in and it automatically fires up. He's never had to do anything about interrupts or whatever to get sound to work, or anything like that, but his computer skills have never been beyond your typical user.
I've often though if I were to have children I'd give them a computer, but I'd intentionally leave it crippled so that some pain is needed to actually use it.