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20% of Brits Think Steve Jobs is a Soccer Player

By - Source: Tom's Hardware US | B 50 comments

Steve Jobs is a soccer player, SaaS used to fight in the war and phishing is a rude thing on the Internet.

I know there's a lot of people who couldn't care less about technology and it doesn't bother me. My own sister doesn't know the difference between HD DVD and Blu-ray. I'm used to repeatedly explaining why a home movie I burned onto a CD-RW won't work in her DVD player. I've even got used to the dreaded tech support phone calls. "I'm at the local library, the computer is frozen and I can't find the power button!" She lives in a different world. Hers is filled with sheet music and instruments she's only had a couple of days with but can somehow play. Some people just have different interests and that doesn't make them any less intelligent than the rest of us. Be that as it may, some of the people in this clip really freaked me out. How could they not know what a social networking site is?

A little background before you watch, perhaps? A UK PR firm decided to conduct an IT survey in which they asked 1,000 people questions about technology. Nothing too difficult but sort of general knowledge questions like who is Bill Gates. The harder ones include, "What is a wireless dongle?" "What is phishing?" and "What is a pixel?"

Surprisingly, even the easier questions, such as "Who is Steve Jobs?" went unanswered. One fifth had never heard of him, 20 percent of people thought he was a soccer player, 10 percent thought he was a trade union leader, and the older gentleman at 3:28 looked genuinely insulted that he was being asked any questions at all. "Steve Jobs? I've never heard of the man," he declared. Or, my personal favourite part of his interview, "Phishing… If anyone of those [answers] is to do with this Internet or email, then tick that one."

"A quarter of respondents also did not identify Sir Tim Berners-Lee as founder of the Internet, with nine per cent believing he was head of MI5," said Lewis PR. "Six per cent thought he was an Arctic explorer and five per cent reckoned he was the first British astronaut into space." Six percent of people thoughtVHD – Virtual Hard Disk – was a sexually transmitted disease

To be fair, the Brits are not alone when it comes to ignorance in this area. The two American ladies at 1:47 knew who Steve was but were tripped up by Bill Gates' profession. Eventually settling on the answer, "Windows," the two knew that Bill lived in Seattle but couldn't name his company.

As for the two adorable French lasses at 2:37, "Very… little … bad English!" Unless their interviewer also had flash cards or visual aids, I think their interview can be discounted.

Watch below and tell us how you think your friends/spouses/family would do.

UK IT survey

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Top Comments
  • 11 Hide
    Anonymous , January 18, 2010 2:02 PM
    Just a correction. Sir Tim Berners-Lee did not found the internet. He is credited with inventing the World Wide Web. In other words, he implemented the first successful HTTP-protocol client-server connection. The internet is the underlying network of inter-connected computer networks the World Wide Web runs on top of. The internet itself began as a US Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency project to provide computer connectivity to itself and defense contractors, and eventually universities doing work on defense contracts and became known as ARPANet.
Other Comments
  • 5 Hide
    Shadow703793 , January 18, 2010 1:21 PM
    Lol. It's pretty amazing how less tech inclined some of these people are. Now only if they had asked the question(s) "What is overclocking?" and "What is Crysis?" or even "What is AMD/Intel?"
  • 1 Hide
    aracheb , January 18, 2010 1:24 PM
    actually the two old ladys knew that steve jobs was related to apple.

    and the bill gate was related to windows..
  • Display all 50 comments.
  • 6 Hide
    Anonymous , January 18, 2010 1:35 PM
    NOtice how beautiful girls know nothing and old peoples know nothing about social networks!
  • 5 Hide
    jomofro39 , January 18, 2010 1:35 PM
    heh, ask us who wrote The Brandenburg concertos, deny us access to Google, and post it in a music hall at your local university. Then they will laugh at us. There is always something for someone, and nothing for everyone. Still made me chuckle though.
  • 9 Hide
    sunflier , January 18, 2010 1:36 PM
    o 7, who is bill gates? Oh, he knocked a few good together when he did uh oyaoyaoyaoyoyaoya(unintellible)come on Bill! Bill lad. Richest man in the world. - LOL!!!

    What is SaaS? Ain't got a clue except they used to fight in the war. - wth?!??
  • 2 Hide
    Zenthar , January 18, 2010 1:42 PM
    I had no idea what VHD meant, but there are so many acronyms these days, how can one keep-up with all of them? If the acronym isn't part of your every day work/interests, little chance your will know them even if you are geek. Worst, the same acronym can mean many things depending on the domain; for example, AES means both an encryption method and "Aeronautical Earth Station".
  • 0 Hide
    mlopinto2k1 , January 18, 2010 1:43 PM
    I like the old guy. We'd get a long. lol.
  • -5 Hide
    michaelahess , January 18, 2010 1:59 PM
    Um, did anyone read that first paragraph? Holly crap that needs some revising! Sorry Jane, but it does.
  • 0 Hide
    Kryan , January 18, 2010 2:00 PM
    the guy at 3:11 ROCKS! i wish i was him and didn't know what a social networking site was either...sigh
  • -2 Hide
    Kryan , January 18, 2010 2:01 PM
    and yes, revision is necessary here. "I'm used repeatedly explaining"
  • 11 Hide
    Anonymous , January 18, 2010 2:02 PM
    Just a correction. Sir Tim Berners-Lee did not found the internet. He is credited with inventing the World Wide Web. In other words, he implemented the first successful HTTP-protocol client-server connection. The internet is the underlying network of inter-connected computer networks the World Wide Web runs on top of. The internet itself began as a US Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency project to provide computer connectivity to itself and defense contractors, and eventually universities doing work on defense contracts and became known as ARPANet.
  • -6 Hide
    tommysch , January 18, 2010 2:07 PM
    But do they play Crysis??
  • 2 Hide
    awan2009 , January 18, 2010 2:08 PM
    I am in ECE Department and my professor did not know what overclocking is....
  • 3 Hide
    JMcEntegart , January 18, 2010 2:25 PM
    Kryanand yes, revision is necessary here. "I'm used repeatedly explaining"


    Fixed.
  • 0 Hide
    mlopinto2k1 , January 18, 2010 2:36 PM
    JMcEntegartFixed.

    Aww... lol
  • -7 Hide
    mlopinto2k1 , January 18, 2010 2:36 PM
    JMcEntegartFixed.

    Aww.. lol
  • 0 Hide
    mlopinto2k1 , January 18, 2010 2:37 PM
    DAMNIT! That is the LAST thing I wanted to do! Grrrr...
  • 4 Hide
    DXRick , January 18, 2010 2:39 PM
    Man, I thought that Al Gore invented the internet! :p 
  • 2 Hide
    theholylancer , January 18, 2010 2:39 PM
    SAS = Special Air Services, I kill you with my sniper rifle

    SAS = Serial Attached SCSI, I kill you with my price
  • -1 Hide
    zak_mckraken , January 18, 2010 2:46 PM
    I also could not identify Sir Tim Berners-Lee as founder of the internet, and that it because everyone knows that Al Gore invented the internet. Right?
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