[geeks] Re: "Word Processing" != productive use of one's time....

[joshua d boyd]

On Sun, Aug 19, 2001 at 04:11:58PM -0400, Greg A. Woods wrote:
> I also tell all my non-computer-literate friends to buy Macs too, though
> I don't do MacOS either....

My major problem is that most people I know don't have the money for a
real ISP (or so they say, but to their credit, these people don't have
cable or cell phones, and tend not to have TVs even).  So, they want to
use NetZero or Juno, or something equally cheap for email at least.

I hear that NICs support NetZero.  If I could afford one, I'd figure out
how to load OpenOffice it, then make custom disks to pass onto people with
NICs.  Then I could shortcut Macs and get the friends to real operating
systems, if not real computers.

> If anyone sends me a document in a proprietary form (or even in
> HTML-only) I simply delete it.  If I'm in a really good mood I might
> send them a note reminding them that I just delete non-text e-mails.
> I don't even accept RTF any more -- it's gone way off the deep end and
> there are no free converters that can handle it well enough to use in a
> business environment.

I tried that once for HTML email sent to me by a friend.  They didn't know
what HTML was, or why I could possibly have a problem.  I gave up after
that.  If I think it is important, I download it to a floppy and take it
to a school lab.  Otherwise, 'd'.  

I must admit that I'm currently willing to work on MS stuff for now.  I
don't have the luxury of holding out and also paying for school in a
timely manor.  I suppose I could spend two years working, then a year at
school, but I'd like to graduate in 4-5 years instead of 12.  I suppose I
have a choice.  I could work at McDonalds instead of on MickeySoft, but
for now I'll make do I suppose.
 
> Now if anyone actually likes M$-Outlook, Word, or whatever, and has
> learned to drive them productively then bully for them -- I won't force
> them not to use them; and I'll put up with hearing their praise if
> they'll put up with me dissing their tools and trying to show them how
> much better my tools are!  ;-)

I have learned to extract productivity from Excel.  The key is to remove
excess options and rejigger the remaining bad parts to make the passable
for the users.  I have made quite a number of applications in Excel using
these principles.  I never advised this as being the best way to do
it.  Usually it was requested as a way to take a spreadsheet that a
poweruser had made for their own use, and reuse the logic which was
usually both complex and obscure, and make it so that the people who
didn't know the first thing about excel could use it.

-- 
Joshua D. Boyd
http://www.cs.millersville.edu/~jdboyd/

IANAL: I am not a [lama|lawyer|luser|leper].