"[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > During preparation for the DFD I am currently searching for reasons > why open standards are important for end-users. > [...] > > Of course "choice" is clearly a really strong argument, but I am > still in search for other ones...
I caution you here that, to a great many people, "choice" in software programs is a burden more than a welcome feature. The responsibility that comes with choice is that, of course, one must choose; and that implies investing significant effort in educating oneself about the options, learning about how those options apply to the task at hand, and frequently learning more technical details about the specific task at hand than one actually cares about. To such people, computer programs are *not* something they are interested in choosing. They have various tasks to be done, and they strongly want *someone else* to have already put in the above effort, and decided what is the single correct tool to use for each one. They will, and frequently do, pay money for not having to make that effort. This is a perfectly reasonable position for such people to take, and thinking of them as lazy, foolish, or short-sighted is not helpful. They simply make the (conscious or unconscious) trade-off of "less up-front effort" versus "freedom of choice" differently from you or I. Presenting "choice" as a positive argument to such people simply won't impress them, because they have no compelling reason to accept the burden of that choice. -- \ "Simplicity and elegance are unpopular because thy require hard | `\ work and discipline to achieve and education to be | _o__) appreciated." -- Edsger Dijkstra | Ben Finney _______________________________________________ Discussion mailing list [email protected] https://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo/discussion
