[rescue] Re: nuking from orbit

[BSD Bob the old greybeard BSD freak]

> > In the end, it's not common sense... Ask any CEO if he'd use vi to write his
> > correspondence to the company he's planning to take over.  After you explain
> > all the wonderful joys of the control-whatever combinations, I'm sure he'll
> > say "uh, no." and promptly fire your ass.  It's not lack of common sense,
> > it's simply that Microsoft products "work".
> 
> vi is NOT, never has been, and never will be a word processor.  Have you 
> ever used word to edit a configuration file?  I'd hope not.  It's a 
> matter of the right tool for the job.  /etc/resov.doc doesn't work.  Nor 
> does c:\autoexec.doc for that matter.

Golly, I must be the odd greybeard critter, in the hurd.  I still consider
vi (coupled with troff and maybe TeX) as some of the best word ``processors''
around, bar none, and miles ahead of Gatesware in most cases.  It's all in
how you use the tools.  Folks don't learn how to use their tools well, mostly,
in Gatesware, because you have to do it their way, and their way only.
It is much faster and easier to runoff a memo in vi/troff than Word, I find.
With vi and troff, you had better learn what you are doing, because it won't
do it for you.  But, you are right, the average CEO does not learn how to
use tools, he barks the commands to others to do it for him.  I always get
a good chuckle out of the secretaries around here, trying to coerce Word
into doing something, especially on large documents.  When I see what it
is they are trying to do, e.g., move margins, global settings, etc., I
tell myself, ``Self, that is a simple 1 liner change in a troff/TeX file,
using vi, and it's done.....''.   An hour later, the secretaries are still
pfutzing and tearing their hair out.  The problem seems to stem from how folks
adjusted to Gatesware think about document preparation and layout.  Still,
I gotta give the devil some due, since they can do some nice color things
on winblows.

Bob