[plug] Oxymoron: Microsoft, innovation

[Mark J Gaynor]

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 15/06/2006 at 9:44 PM Alex Nordstrom wrote:

>Thursday, 15 June 2006 16:27, Mark J Gaynor wrote:
>> If you open a MS document, OOo should by default ask if you wish to
>> keep your original format and if by chance the user does not
>> understand what a file format is, OOo should save the document back
>> to the original format anyway.
>
>It does ask; mind you, it asks from the other point of view: do you 
>really want to save in an inferior format that may not be able to store 
>all the features you used? Of course, it can be configured to not ask 
>and just always prefer proprietary formats, if that's what you really 
>want.

I don't waste time to play with semantics. Both MS and OOo play on 
words which is not logical from a user perspective, and that is what 
counts. Playing games is not productive.

>> I have lost count of the times people have just asked to show how to
>> do a particular task and write down the steps verbatim. They are not
>> always interested in what funky things might be done, they have a
>> job to do with a deadline and that is what drives the learning curve.
>
>So instead of learning what to do, they memorise how to do it, a bit 

You miss the point! Productivity is not about learning its about getting
the
job done in a timely fashion. People are employed to work not learn, in 
many instances and that is all they do. They don't put in any more effort
than is required. It reminds me of a uni student that said 51% pass is
working 1% harder than is required to get a pass! Take that attitude into
the work force and you get "just tell me what I need to do to get the job
done!" That is reality.

>like playing a melody on a piano without any feel for why certain notes 
>harmonise. To this kind of user, apparently learning where a menu item 
>is placed rather than understanding why it is there is the simpler 
>option, even though it requires infinitely more memorisation. 
>
>In the long run, I think it is setting oneself up for failure, and I 
>can't think of any other domain where teachers are so afraid of helping 
>the learners see the virtue of a clearly superior approach to learning.

The teaching environment is sometimes so far out of touch with the 
reality if industry. You learn to use the right tool for the job in school
and
as soon as you get into industry you are told that is not how we do it
here.
Do it this way in future and forget what they tell you in school. (Personal
experience) So much for the value of a school education. OBE is going
to be desasterous for society in future years.

>> I wanted to import some CSV text data into a spreadsheet with OOo,
>> a simple task you may think. Well,I could not find anything that
>> would allow me to do this simple task.
>
>File->Open, choose Text CSV (*.csv;*.txt) from the File type dropdown 
>box. Did that not work?

That is fine for opening a spreadsheet, I wanted to import the data into
an existing document. MERGE may be a better term.

>> Another example of open source missing the point or re inventing the
>> wheel is Gimp. Highly rated by those who use it, but come from
>> only using Adobe Photoshop in all its glory, because the company
>> can afford the real deal and all the plugins. The transition to Gimp
>> is far from easy, as they put everything in different places to where
>> you expect them, if you can find them at all.
>
>I worked with Photoshop for several years (though I usually found Paint 
>Shop Pro easier to work with for all but the more complex tasks), but 

I don't use multiple apps to do the same type of thing. Again it comes
down to productivity. I don't have time to play around, if it does not do
all that I want I find something that does and use that for everything.
It is efficient and productive.

>always found it cumbersome. I didn't like the Gimp 1 interface, but 
>after the 2.0 release came out, I switched to that, and nothing has 
>ever felt so natural. I guess everyone is different. For those who get 
>confused when things move, there's always Gimpshop. (Personally, my 
>main gripe with Gimp is the lack of adjustment layers, but I would 
>probably not be able to use it practically anyway; memory consumption 
>is already a problem for 8MP pictures.)

I don't have that problem. I rest my case!


Mark
--