Well-l-l ...
They're damned if they do and they're damned if they don't [sigh /].
There's at least one resident of this domicile that would totally panic at such a message popping up. She doesn't know - and has no desire to know - enough to interpret such a popup, and would be as lief as not to hit the wrong button. Your solution, Mouser, would be no solution at all for her. Mind you, I like it, but it would be worse than useless to her. And, unfortunately, to a great number of folk I know [sigh /].
Most folk just want something that works out of the box, w/o having to do anything other than press a button, click an icon or link, and have just what they expect on the screen in front of them. The aforementioned young lady gets irritated if the app asks her whether to create a new file or reload the previous one [chuckle /].
Methinks the answer would be more along the lines of better in-house, pre-release testing, then significant beta testing. Of course, that's even less likely than your conceptualization. And highly unlikely, particularly, in the threat arena, even if 'twere an adopted practice otherwise.
My young lady's take - and I tend to agree - is that it should just work, and if it doesn't, the vendor sold a faulty product. Actually, we've all contributed to that attitude - we who know better! - and now it's coming home to roost.
Told my boss back in '95 that if the Internet was an information highway, she needed to get a driver's license. Still think that way, but it ain't gonna happen any more than it did with my boss. We are inundated, day in and day out, with PC and software vendors promoting the next greatest thing, to the extent that education goes by the wayside, tossed into the gutter along the highway.
Ack! This is turning into a rant.
Anyway, mouser, your solution will work for thee, me, and our kindred souls, but not for the majority of PC users. They don' wanna make decides, they just want results right now!
