Every now and then people are very clever. My grandmother (mum's mum and now 89) was trying to get her head around what software is. Given that her understanding of what a computer is is pretty hazy, I though the attempt valiant. So I explains that computer hardware is like the filing cabnet, and software is like the filing system.
She wonders about this for a while, and then says "So it's like breaking in a horse?"
And I'm forced to agree with her. Yes, the analogy has limitations (almost immdiately) but for someone who is not yet using EFTPOS, I thought it showed admirable understanding of the basic concept, namely, that the object is set up to function a particular way by humans.
Posted by carla at April 20, 2004 03:33 AM