iRant: look, but don't touch. v1.7

i can't believe that there's people out there who're still not clued up about usable space on ipods/hdds/etc. "my ipod only holds 18GB - it says 20GB durr what dis?" i don't mind techno-ignorance as i'm pretty used to being immersed in it, thanks to my mega-techoid-brain, but this particular branch of the infidel seem to think that they're being ripped off by some... some bizarre inner circle conspiricy, when they should just clue themselves up on technology.

for reference: hard drives have less usable capacity than advertised because, like the universe (we Pratchettians suspect), quite a large portion of the actual, physical, object is taken up with the knowledge of where the rest of the stuff in the object, is. er.

that is to say, 1.5GB out of 20GB is keeping a record of where the actual files can be located in the rest of the 18.5GB.

see? hmph. maybe that's not the best explanation, after all. anyway, it's listed as 20GB because it is 20GB, it's just the file system (FAT32, NTFS, etc) is unwieldly and in need of it's core updating, i suspect.

i've often thought privately that computers should be treat like cars - pass a test and then be allowed to buy one. and drive it. er. and crash it. oh! that works. at least after crashing cars, the drivers don't ring the carmaker and whine and complain that the car crashed on them. well, you get the idea. it was a weak meatphor (i think that was meant to be "metaphor" but lack of red meat is starting to affect my subconcious).

at the very least, we should implement some system... something along the lines of restricting learner computer users from interacting with the internet. look, but don't touch people. look, but don't touch.