Roman Forum?

Last night I was reading late Mikhail Gasparov's essay on "Responsibilty to Understand" (I am translating from Russian here), and ran into a fascinating paragraph (most things Gasparov wrote were fascinating -- this simply seemed very relevant):

"Why did Rome conquer Greece, even though Greek culture was a higher one? Once historian answers: because Romans did not shun from learning Greek, and Greeks did shun learning Latin. Therefore, in negotiations Romans understood the Greeks directly, while Greeks needed interpreters. We know what the result of this was."

So with the pun intended, today's parallel is user vs. geek. Not to say that geeks are a dying breed, just the opposite. For some reason, communications have become better. Technologists have learned that the user is in charge and needs to be understood. Afterall, it's the user that makes or breaks new applications.

This year's PC Forum, which, unfortunately, I could not attend, is devoted to the discussion of this topic. I wonder if the Rome/Greece angle would fly with this year's crowd.