• willingness to master a tool seems to be higher in a professional setting
  • in some settings, even making own tools is common - woodworking, metalsmith (this is relevant to tools building us, and us building the tools)
• interesting relation with spending time to learn keyboard shortcuts
• there seems to be some connection between hardware and power-users:
  • MIDI keyboards, pads, etc. for musicians
  • 3D SpaceNavigator mouse for CAD

But there was another bias, even in the more innovative work - and that bias had to do with deciding to set aside technology and user interactions that were "too difficult" for users to learn. I was particularly disappointed to learn, for example, that one of the principal websites offering knowledge retrieval on the web had concluded that a number of potentially more powerful searching tools should not be offered because user testing discovered that they were not easy to use. Why do we assume that, in computing, ease of use - particularly ease of use by people with little training - is desirable for anyone other than a beginner? What is surprising is that, in serious discussions with serious computer/human factors experts, who are presumably trying to address hard problems of knowledge use and collaboration, ease of use keeps emerging as a key design consideration. Doesn't anyone ever aspire to serious amateur or pro status in knowledge work?

— Improving Our Ability to Improve - Douglas Engelbart