Sysadmin summoned to explain italics – to a user with at least two degrees
- ID
- 11872
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 07 Aug 2026, 2:30 PM
- Fetched
- 07 Aug 2026, 2:36 PM
- Provider
- The Register
- Category
- technology
- Original URL
- https://www.theregister.com/software/2026/08/07/sysadmin-summoned-to-explain-italics-to-a-user-with-at-least-two-degrees/5283871
- Source URL
- https://www.theregister.com/headlines.atom
Summary
- Score
- 2.0
- Created
- 07 Aug 2026, 2:37 PM
- Tags
- Audience
- developersvibe_coders
What happened
A sysadmin at a Wall Street law firm was urgently summoned by a lawyer—who held both law and business degrees from an Ivy League university—because the lawyer didn't understand why letters in Outlook were 'slanted.' The sysadmin explained that the formatting was called italics and showed him the italics icon, while the lawyer's secretary tried to hide her laughter.
Why it matters
No actionable takeaway for builders; this is a humorous anecdote about tech illiteracy among highly credentialed users. It may be useful only as a reminder that even well-educated end users can lack basic software literacy, which is worth keeping in mind when designing UX or writing support documentation.
Discussion angle
How much should developer tooling and AI agent interfaces assume about baseline computer literacy, especially as vibe coders and non-technical users increasingly interact with complex systems?