[rescue] Wooohhhooo XP -> 0 to BSOD in 12min23sec

[Kurt Huhn]

> Where does M$ find these people? Our M$ rep seemed to be brainwashed or
> something, it was like he had some kind of personal infactuation w. Billy
> boy it was pretty scary..... Then he tried to convince us to switch from
> LaTeX to Office XP. At that point I stopped listened and I left in the
> middle of his sentence, what a waste of my time!
>

I often wonder, why would someone pay $200 (or more) for an OS that has no
significant business impact.  I mean - what *are* the benefits of XP?  Can
someone explain to me in tangible terms why *any* business would make a
switch to XP?

I submit that, for all the supposed benefits of XP, you could setup a Linux
box with StarOffice and your average business user wouldn't be any worse
off.

The same co-worker that argued the benefits of XP to me, also tried to argue
that your average computer user shouldn't have to memorize commands - that
buttons and gizmos and wizards should do all the thinking for you.  I told
him that it was bad practice to turn a computer into a pointy-clicky machine
with a brain dead user.  It's that type of thing that results in *huge*
customer support expenditures - and raises helpdesk suicide rates.

Apparently, the customization of the XP GUI is what makes it so great?  "Is
that so?" I asked, what happens when the user performs Stupid User Tricks
and deletes [insert function here] icon from [insert M$ app here]?  "Well,
you reinstall the application." - he said.

I was totally speachless....

I don't think I won the argument - even though he walked away completely
frustrated.  The last thing he tried to convince me of was that, with the
advent of buttons, users no longer need to memorize *anything*.  Well, I
shot that down with - "Then how do they know what the button does?  They
have to memorize the function of the button - or else they'd never know what
that button does.  Why is that any different than memorizing ctrl-b or
crtl-i?"  Seriously, I know transcriptionists thatn out-type anyone, using
Wordstar.  I knew a few that actually quit their jobs when they were forced
to learn MS Word.

Kurt