[plug] URGENT: DON'T READ THE `HELLO HONEY' MESSAGE if you're on OutLook

[Craig Ringer]

> It's really not as difficult as MS^H^Hpeople make out to change OS,
> given a reasonable level of support from a knowledgeable friend or
> sysadmin or family member.

Heh. My housemates are all windows users (all 3). One is dangerously 
computer illiterate, and has a PC built from junk. I wouldn't want to 
change her over because the amount of teaching time etc would not be 
worth the reduced support. You got it - I'm tech support @home too. *sigh*.

The other 2 are mad gamers. There is no chance they'd move. Heck, I 
still keep windoze dual boot at home for gaming which I'm known to do 
sometimes.

It depends on what you want to do with the computer and how much time 
the people assisting have. You can't just switch them over and say "have 
fun", there is a lot of teaching involved whether its explaining how to 
access floppy discs and where the heck C: went (illierates) or the 
differences in filesystem structure and user permissions.

Also while OO seems to have stabilized enough that I'll think about 
setting people up with it who I can't quickly respond to if they have a 
problem, Mozilla is just too buggy for that so far. Mostly minor stuff, 
but I'm tracking a few I think are pretty critical (loads images from 
http:// urls in email [yay spam *sigh*], bad deep IMAP folder nesting, 
problems with IE bookmark import under windows, and a couple of others).

So - just remember to think about what "a reasonable level of support" 
means if you happen to be that "knowledgeable friend or sysadmin or 
family member." OK for 1 system p'haps but what if you're helping out 
lots of people. After all its not the systems that take the time its the 
teaching of the users.

-- 
Craig Ringer                                IT Manager, POST Newspapers
http://www.postnewspapers.com.au/
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