> On Wed, 28 Jun 2000 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> > Bob,
> >
> > [EMAIL PROTECTED] said:
> > > Much as I respect Maddog, and his opinions, I think he is wrong on
> > > this one.
> >
> > You could not possibly respect me or my opinions, or else you might have
> > read the article and found out that the headline:
> >
> > "Linux Leader Calls Porting of Office and Quicken Critical"
> >
> > was nowhere near what I said. You should know by now that there are
> > the "writers" and there are the editors who make up the headlines (which
> > are there to attract attention and create controversy.
>
I am deeply sorry that I have offended you. Like a couple of others
on the list, I couldn't find the full article. I looked in several places, &
only
found what somebody else called "teasers". I apologize.
BTW, I didn't get the email I am responding to, either. I just spent close to
an hour (don't tell my boss) looking for it in mail I had downloaded, and in
old mail still on the mail server. So, if what Jeff used to respond to in his
email isn't your whole message, I apologize again.
> >
> > I *did* say that applications were critical, and I *did* say that two
that
> > were significantly missing were MS Office and Quicken, but I said this
> > because half the people who told me that "they would switch to Linux
> > in a moment if only XXXX were ported" filled in that XXXX with
> > "MicroSoft Office" or "Quicken" (or both).
> >
>
> > [EMAIL PROTECTED] said:
> > > Sorry, Maddog, the PHBs are lying to you.
> >
> > No they are not, and I think it is rather rash of you to say this. They
> > face a rather real world need of employees trained to use office
software.
> > They also face a real-world need of having to exchange documents
> > with other branches of
> > their companies and customers, and having only a 95% translation rate
just
> > does not cut it. I can see the exchange of email now:
> >
> > >Linux-user: "Could you send me that MS letter again, only don't use
> > "quick-save" this time? My Applixware document reader can't handle
things
> > > saved by "Quick-save".
>
Actually, one of the "real world" things I am responding to, is managers using
variations on those same words, as an excuse to change their companies
office products, from something else, for instance, WordPerfect, to M$.
The employees were perfectly happy using WordPerfect. They didn't have
problems exchanging documents with us. We had more problems after they
changed. We usually had to tell them to save their word documents in an
older version of Word so we could read them. We could read the
*non-word* stuff they sent us, because it was in an old enough version
that we could convert. We couldn't read the M$ Word stuff they sent
us after their conversion, even tho we were using Word; because we
had an older version of Word. The bosses were still convinced that
they had improved their ability to exchange documents with us.
<<some stuff snipped>>
> > Now maybe some of you have learned Applixware or Star Office on your
own,
> and
> > you say "no big deal". On the other hand most of you can replace your
own
> > disk drives, add memory to your system, and configure PPP without a
hitch.
> >
> > Sorry, Bob, but mainstream management does not want that type of
> > headache when their main job is to make shoes. Having an office suite
> > they know makes it a lot easier to accept Linux.
> >
The mainstream management I know don't use computers much. Their employees do.
This management doesn't get their information from listening to their
employees.
They get it from salespersons and advertisements. And these are IS managers!
"My mind is made up. Don't confuse me with facts."
Granted, this is not all managers. But the managers that aren't like this, are
already looking at Linux. They haven't jumped yet, but they are looking
with an open mind.
99.9% of the "Linux is hard to use" stuff I hear is from people trying to
install it themselves. Most of these people never installed Windows.
The Burlington Coat Factory experience, mentioned in the Business Show
last April may be closer to the truth. They set a Linux box on a secretaries
desk.
A few weeks later, she said not to ever take Linux away from her.
Little training. No special Linux help desk. (She could have called them, but
didn't).
> > md
Sorry for not doing my homework better, before speaking (OK, typing),
Bob Sparks
Linux guru wannabe
**********************************************************
To unsubscribe from this list, send mail to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the following text in the
*body* (*not* the subject line) of the letter:
unsubscribe gnhlug
**********************************************************
