Saturday Night Live
4 HN mentions · mentioned in 4 months, 2021–2024
4:16 · 757K views · Sep 6, 2013
An SNL sketch in which Nick Burns, the condescending IT guy, trains a new tech support hire to mock users over simple computer problems.
Used as shorthand for the arrogant, dismissive tech support person in jokes and comparisons.
4 comments from Hacker News
There's something here between the lines I think I empathize with. That there's been a cultural shift from the tinkerer PC ethos, with decentralized vendors, respect for being "open" (whether open source or standard). This way of thinking seemed to be the default for those of us brought up into computing in the 80s up until the mid 2000s. Even on Microsoft products, the Evil Empire of these times, the amount of customizability and range of hardware and software supported in Windows shows how baked in these assumptions were. Of course, the average user struggled during these times given the endlessly complexity and configurability of technology. A lot of work with tech required someone speaking technobabble to get everything to work -- Someone like the old SNL sketch "Nick Burns, Your Company's Computer Guy" ( this video ). Users don't care about the idealism behind the original PC movement, maybe to their detriment. They just want it to work. Those of us getting in the way to espouse ideal of open source this and that just seem to be getting in their way of the thing that "just works" regardless of what MegaCorp they have to turn their personal lives over to.
Nick burns would disagree :) this video Technology natives skipped social to enjoy innovation without the emotional fodder. They were left on their own with nobody to coddle them. Its 2022.. Illiteracy is obvious
Back when computer expertise was hard to come by, so admins could lord over users. The Internet has made these people extinct. SNL parody: this video
Usually the biggest office asshole and last person you want to talk to for anything. The living embodiment of Nick Burns. this video