The Butler

I had a thought today. Reading about the butler ideal from PG Wodehouse books has got me thinking. I need a butler for my computer. With the average computer gaining more power and functionality one needs a technical mind to manage it.

With a butler at hand however, one can simply allow the butler to do things which are similar to dusting the house and keeping other employees of the house managed. The master of the house must not be bothered with the miniature details of how the house is managed.

This is the ideal program for my mother and father. Recently I installed Mint on the home computer and ever since my parents have been super happy with the "new" computer. In my opinion this came from the fact that Linux is better at not generating junk than Windows. What the crux of the matter was that my parents used the computer simply for Internet based activities. They did not understand why windows was slowing down when they did nothing other than open mail everyday.

What they experienced was in part a passive Butler attitude. Linux is good at running for a long time. This causes the user to focus on what they do and not on how to keep the machine running. Let us see how this idea develops.

My idea of the butler is that it must do things without troubling me. It must learn who I am and know my needs. It must not bother me with the trivialities of the computer. If I say I want to check mail, the Butler must simply open my mail for me and not start asking what browser I prefer to use.

That is just the beginning. If you have any more ideas please do type them in the comments. Let us wait and watch the rise of the Butler.