On Monday 14 October 2002 19:17, Anders Johansson wrote:
kevinmcl@magma.ca wrote:
They did it that way because it worked.
They also use MS Outlook and make up for its shortcomings by spending literally millions of $$$ on anti virus software. "because it worked" or "because it required the least amount of thought or competence"?
Well, I suppose that's very true. I have been trying for a while, and I still do not have sufficient competence to completely abandon MS Windows and MS Office. Some company documents do not survive the round-trip from Word to OpenOffice Writer to Word again, with formatting and tables intact. I'm sure it's just a failing on my part, but until I figure it out, or fix OpenOffice (I'm not a programmer), I'll have to live with the shame of my incompetence. Before you ask, no, I don't get to re-write other people's controlled documents for them. I have to deal with them as I receive them. Some company spreadsheets do not survive... (see above, but substitute OOo spreadsheet app)... blah, blah, ... shame of my incompetence. I *do* use KMail for my mail, but I have not figured out how to make my Korganizer appointments calendar synchronize with everybody else's Outlook Calendars, nor how to use the voting buttons that everybody else in the office can use in their e-mail replies, nor how to accept other people's meeting invitations within either Korganizer OR KMail, so that the public calendars are visibly updated and synchronized (WHAT public calendars??). Oh, the shame, when other people take care of stuff like that with two mouse-clicks, and I'm taking extra time to do everything by hand. Perhaps if I just took more Garcinia Cambogia, or if I just read that _f***ing_ FAQ one more time, I'd suddenly understand how to make all these things happen. No, Ximian Evolution won't do it, because we have NT servers, and the Evo extension for calendars and scheduling requires Win2K server. Ok. I'll stop. You know, it escapes me how you don't grasp that the above are considered *advantages* of having ugly old MS Office and MS Outlook... by the rest of the people in my company. You know, the people I have to work with every day? Many of those advantages have existed for years. Most of us heathens, who aren't in the inner circle of Linux, were not aware of Linux apps with that kind of functionality several years ago. So, fools that they must have been, they went with: a) the next version of software they already had and that all the staff already knew, b) the only (or one of two only) software that had the functions. Or, do you think it is the fault of those lazy buggers in the IT department? Then, I'm sure you won't mind revealing: 1) the Linux functional equivalent programs that they can implement today and 2) the Linux functional equivalent programs that they could implement eight years ago, when the company started. My friendly, neighborhood IT people have been sufficiently competent to make MS servers and desktop software work 99%+ of the time, despite all its shortcomings. The worse you think MS is, then the better (more competent) you are admitting these people are. But, even as bright and competent as they are, they're still struggling NOW to get working equivalents to the convenience and functionality enjoyed by Windows and Office and Outlook users throughout the company. They're learning this Linux stuff while working shorthanded to maintain the office MS installation. Please don't hold out. Let us know what we should be using, in order to give our staff the sort of (apperently) integrated environment they have enjoyed for the past several years.
Oh, and I especially liked this bit from Carl:
'Windoze Users' and shall be shunned by all who honor the good and noble traditions which created the Internet.
That was written by Steven T. Hatton. Correct attribution is to me the most important part of netiquette.
The network proved to have utility for those reasons and for other reasons, so it gradually expanded to include other institutions of higher learning. Then, it just sat there for a while, with not a whole lot of improvement, until business came along.
The www was invented at CERN before business came along. Since
Now that, I readily admit as an error (snipped too early, before beginning reply). I apologize to Carl, and to any who were misled. then
there have been a precious few new inventions. It's mostly been just polish since then.
And I knew that. But Mr. Hatton's remark (sorry again, Carl) as quoted, said "the internet"... not "the web". But, I guess as long as you get the attribution correct, you don't need to address the actual quotation? This netiquette is slippery stuff. /kevin