Why downloading Firefox is like getting into college | Hacker News Reader

Why downloading Firefox is like getting into college

sethgodin.typepad.com

10 pointsAlex391716 comments

I don't understand why Seth is pro-college on the blog all of the sudden. Every single one of his books takes at least a few passing swipes at college, and some of them downright trash the institution in general. I understand that this is about the social signaling value of school, not the pedagogical function. However, this is what is said in The Big Moo about the social signaling value of school only three years ago:

“The new secret of success is that winning the game has absolutely nothing to do with hard work and paying your dues. In the old days stable industries offered young workers a pyramid structure. If you did the work and stuck it out you’d move up.”

“In our fast-moving media crazed culture, the opposite is now true. Those who fit in now won’t stand out later. Those who follow the rules are never noticed - because the system has broken their spirit. There’s plenty work for the undifferentiated masses, so you can have as much as you are willing to handle. The fast-rising stars are those that question authority and refuse to do what’s done before.”

This article is not pro-college. He's talking about correlation != causation. ie. going to college doesn't necessarily teach you anything you wouldn't get elsewhere -- rather, it is an indication of what kind of person you are (the kind of person who goes to college... who is more likely to be smart than the kind of person who doesn't.)

Hence the relation to Firefox: just like college, using Firefox doesn't actually make you smarter (though an ignorant view of the statistics might make you think so) -- but the fact that you are using it in the first place, says something about the kind of person you are.

I did edit my post to make it clear that I was referring to the social signaling value of colleges, not the pedagogical value, but you may have pulled up my comment before this.

Seth must be starting to run out of things to talk about. If he had simply stated the fact that 50% of Squidoo users who make pages on Squidoo use Firefox to do so that would have been fine, Equating going to college with downloading and installing Firefox is a weak reference.

I think the idea of treating Firefox users differently is interesting.

Well we already get treated differently (badly) by IE-only sites! It would be nice to see the tables turned.

(honest question)

What IE-only sites are actually worth visiting?

I've been using Firefox forever, and Netscape before that, it's been more than 5 years (maybe even more) since I found a browser-specific site that had any value.

My wife and I both use Mac's (hers at home, mine for home/work), so I can be pretty sure that I haven't had to resort to IE for some odd site.

Utilities (my gas company) and some banks with good interest rates.

I'm sure the more astute startups out there already do this for the iPhone. Firefox would not that be big of a leap.

Special treatment? A/B Testing - where A = Firefox (with new power user features) B = Everything else. Feedback / request for enhancement links?

Be sure to throw Opera users into the same basket. By this standard, you would expect that they are really a breed apart.

At least it is not a pointer. Can you imagine the kind of segfaults you would get? UGLLLYYYYY ones.

I agree with the spirit of his post. The college reference seems a bit off, and I'm not a big fan of college == success/smart. This is both because I couldn't bring myself to pay others to teach me things I mostly already knew (or could figure out for myself), and because most of the worlds top richest people are all non-college educated (most have some college, but no degree, not sure about Slim off the top of my head, but I doubt he has any).

The reasoning: In order to use Firefox, you need to be confident enough to download and use a browser that wasn't the default when you first turned on your computer.

Firefox is standard on Ubuntu. If I download and install a new OS, does that make me a super power user? Don't some Dells come with Ubuntu pre-installed?

Very few, and you'd still have to be a bit of a ballsy user to buy an Ubuntu dell instead of a Windows (unless it's significantly cheaper).

Hmmm by observing people's behavior, you can estimate what kinds of people they are. There's a shocker. I'm still not quite sure what college had to do with it all. Another observed behavior I think was his thought.

so, how do safari users stack up?

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