>>34
> My time is valuable.
Aww Gee, you must be one of those people who didn't need to get a computer.
> Who is going to reimburse me for the time lost?
Who would reimburse you for the time you'd lost if you couldn't fix the system and just put up with it not working like_nearly_all_laypeople_with_busted_computers?
"One hour becoming familiar with a computer is worth 300 hours of knowing jack-shit about them."
> Do you know your car inside out?
Motorbike: yes. I do unassisted solo rides across the country, and have done serious roadside repairs in a situtation that otherwise would've meant dumping the bike. (One of my panniers is filled with tools..)
> Can you fix your cellphone?
Yes, resoldered a memory card socket with a dry joint. "While I had the case open..", I modded it with an external battery tap to improve the runtime, too.
> Do you do all the electrical wiring and plumbing in your house?
It's illegal to do that here, but yes. (My Mum's place was wired by a dodgy ex-boyfriend of hers. I fixed it from killing people.)
> Do you do all your taxes yourself, after reading the tax code?
Yes.
> Do you do your own legal opinions?
I'm not doing 10-15 years for 50 counts of break/enter/steal...
> Do you give a shit about these things?
"Hmm... My life and/or livelyhood depends on this. Should I take the time to become familiar with the tools I rely on? A tough call.."
I read "Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintance" when I was a wee tot. Almost everything went over my head at the time, but it did focus my ideals of what a "Professional" was.
> People who don't need to know the minutiae of some fancy calculator with memory to do their vocation?
How many billions of dollars and man-hours are lost every year through unskilled people using computers? How many people are seriously injured or _killed_ because the employee was not conscientious enough to be an expert at -everything- they needed to be because they're a lazy fuck whose "time is valuable"? ... "A computer on every desk" is a fucking scam, and that's a Computer Professional of 20 years saying that.