Lowest common denominator

…the term Lowest Common Denominator means appealing to as many people at once as possible.  There are varying interpretations on what this implies. Taking an upbeat viewpoint, it might be admirable; making stories that most people can relate to
TVropes.com

It has been said that television programming caters to the intellect of an 8 year old, in this case television’s lowest common demoninator, to ensure that the largest proportion of people can relate to it.

This poses a question – what intellectual age should OSS tools cater for?

Let me pose another question – could an 8 year old navigate around your OSS tools and be able to perform the most common tasks with little training (without understanding the context of what the input / returned information is showing of course since that takes more training)?

If not, I wonder whether your user interface and concepts need to be simplified?

One last question – does this blog make you curious about what would actually happen if you were willing to let an 8 year old loose on your application suite?

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