RE: [MLUG] a good time to dump Windows?

["Hargus, Diana" <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

* -----Original Message-----
* From: EMAIL:PROTECTED 
* [mailto:EMAIL:PROTECTED] On Behalf Of 
* Phillip Kelchen
* Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2006 1:14 PM
* To: MLUG Members
* Subject: Re: [MLUG] a good time to dump Windows?
* 
* On Thursday 01 June 2006 11:48, Mark Haidekker wrote:
* > We, too, have Word dominance. I don't accept that. For example, I 
* > require student turnins to be either pdf or an open format (i.e. 
* > OpenOffice). When somebody sends me a Word attachment, I can either 
* > open it with OO, or I can't Generally it's _them_ who want 
* me to read 
* > their stuff, so it's their responsibility to provide me with a 
* > readable version. Besides, why would you attach a Word file 
* if the content is formatting-free plain text?
* >
* > Depending on the person, I ask for a different format or point at 
* > http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html
* 
* People tend to use Word because it's what they have been 
* trained to use: 
* typing == Word. There are several reasons why people stick 
* with Word for every text-making endeavour:
* 
* 1. If it's an already-installed program on their system (such 
* as Notepad), a different sequence of clicks through the Start 
* menu to uncover than accessing Word. Now don't laugh- there 
* are a LOT of people that think that a program has been 
* removed when the shortcut on the desktop is gone or the 
* program entry has been simply moved around in the Start menu. 
* I happen to know quite a few of these 
* "memorize-and-regurgitate" computer users. 

If that were the case, why not just use wordpad?
 
* 2. If the program is not already installed, such as 
* OpenOffice, it must be downloaded from the Internet. Even 
* though it is free, this requires a little bit of work and 
* most people are EXTREMELY averse to doing any work that they 
* do not absolutely have to do. 

True, but see reply to #1
 
* 3. Then they expect that the layout of everything is exactly 
* the same as the program that they have been trained on, i.e. 
* Microsoft Word. When they have to go under the "Preferences" 
* menu instead of the "Options" menu, they get upset and say 
* that the other program is "inferior" to the "standard" setup 
* of MS Office applications. 

That is just because they are lazy; all programs have their good AND bad
points

* 4. They also demand 100% perfect compatibility from the 
* program with their old Office files. Any incompatibilities = 
* more work for the user. Since they see Office as the 
* standard, any program that can't process "standard" files is 
* inferior. And if they happen to send out an OO-created 
* Office-format file that somebody else opens up and the 
* formatting is a little off, they usually get yelled at for 
* "being too cheap to use a real program."

If that were the case, why aren't they complaing about diifferences in
their office versions from M$?  And who sets the standards?  The ones
that have the largest installed userbase maybe?  If you want to set the
standards, make a "Superior" product and market it.
 
* 5. They also know that Microsoft applications are what most 
* everybody else uses and use the herd mentality to justify not 
* doing any more work (as listed
* above) if there is not a large gain to be had by using the 
* new program. This means that a program like OpenOffice must 
* be vastly superior in every way in the eyes of Joe Q. Public 
* in regards to Microsoft Office for people to want to go get it.

Herd mentality?  Get off that high horse.  See my response to #4.  The
last part is very true, though.  You left out the part about convincing
management though, and that is the biggest part.
 
* 6. Because of #5, if an employer, professor, or somebody else 
* mandates that the person use a different program, they will 
* generally balk at it as there is no excuse nor very many 
* recourses but to learn a new program and otherwise do "extra" 
* work that they would not have to do if their superior let 
* them use "normal" programs. So they gripe and grumble because 
* they have been moved out of their comfort zones. 

Some are stubborn enough to say "what benefit is there to me to do as
you say?" and go on from there to do as they want.  People do not always
submit to authority, and even moreso in an educational atmosphere where
they are taught to ask questions and learn from the answers.

* 7. People will also generally find back doors to a 
* requirement to use an unfamiliar program if there are any. I 
* have seen this quite a bit in electronic instrumentation 
* class, where the reports had to be submitted in PDF or Open 
* Document format (or I suppose ASCII text would have worked, 
* so would have standard HTML.) The most common trick was to go 
* to the computer lab and use the PDF export button in Word on 
* computers with Adobe Acrobat. 
* Another one was to type the report up in Word and simply 
* copy-and-paste into OpenOffice or into an online AJAX word 
* processor that supports ODF, such as Writely. Microsoft is 
* supposed to be making a stand-alone Office <-> ODF converter 
* that does not actually integrate into MS Office applications, 
* so it would enable the use of ODF documents without making 
* them easily available to be saved into but allows for the 
* transfer of them if you have to deal with them. Call it the 
* "Massachusetts Workaround."
* 
* The economics and logistics can't be any more on the side of 
* using a free and freely-compatible program and format over a 
* costly and incompatible one. The vast majority of people must 
* be very short-sighted and value comfort, image, and 
* entertainment over freedom, knowledge, and a good long-term 
* outcome or else they would all be running the less-expensive 
* and more effective solutions instead of what they currently use.

Would this also read as lazy?  Or is this just an observation that the
opposite side holds the same opinion?  What reason is there not to use
the tools provided? Yes, efficiency is a strange thing, and personal
choice is even stranger.

Before I get flamed for this, consider this:  At work I use the pc
provided by the state with the software they mandate (winxp, MSO2003,
etc); but, at home, I use the following: A laptop running SUSE 9.0,
another laptop with win98/madrake, a pc with SUSE 10/winxp, and a
handfull of pc's and laptops running mixed os's (win98, winxp pro/home,
different *nixes) and office suites (Ooo, MS Office97, 2003 and
M$Works).  As such, what ever machine I am using dictates which software
I use.  GIMP on one, Adobe on another and MS Acrylia on yet another one.
Unlike some people, I don't want to limit my choices, I want to learn
from all of them... 

Diana

* Phillip
* 
* 
* 
* > R seems to be good, but has a steep learning curve. And I 
* have limited 
* > time. I wish I could use R just like that.
* >
* > Mark
* >
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