On 1/13/06, Howard Coles Jr. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Friday 13 January 2006 10:02, Jim Parkhurst wrote: > > Sorry to hear that. My mom - (75yrs young) - is using OpenOffice to do > > the minutes of the local "seasoned citizens" center. Once she figured > > out the differences from a typewriter(!), she has been paying with it. > > > > >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 01/12/2006 14:10 >>> > > > > Just wanted to take a minute to tell you how truely horrible OpenOffice > > is. > > > > I am running Debian Linux, not by choice, but because my office > > requires it. > > > > I attempted to apt-get the new OpenOffice but it wanted me to updated > > my kernel which isn't broken.. so no, I will not update it. > > > > I then downloaded OpenOffice from the website and it was a tarred up > > file that contained 25+ .rpm files and not a single readme to tell me > > how to install it. I have no clue what to do with these rpm files. > > > > This is the epitomy of why Linux will never EVER EVER be used by the > > average person. I was completely fooled into thinking your software > > would help bridge the gap, it only made it much worse. 25 rpm files, > > what a joke. > > To add to that the Treasurer of our church who is retired (and for > correctness > I will not guess her age) is using Ubuntu linux and OpenOffice.org / > GnuCash > to do our finances, and my Mom (60+ years young) is learning to use > OpenOffice for general purposes. > > I have found there are generally three reasons people have a hard time > with > changing applications / Operating systems: > 1. Fear of computers in general. > 2. Never learned "what" they were doing (in terms of the principles) in > the > older app / OS only the exact steps to get x or y to happen. > 3. Don't want to. > > Usually if I can get someone over 1 & 2 above I've got it made, and can > then > change the app / OS without a problem. However 3 is a pain because no > matter > how hard you try, or how much they are told by bosses or whatever that > they > have to, they will not learn it.
I don't think the issue is *using* OpenOffice.org - which I doubt many have a problem with - what the OP was (rudely) complaining about was installing OpenOffice.org. It's easy on Windows, hard on Mac, and I-don't-know on Linux. All the versions of Linux I've used have had OOo pre-installed, and updating was easy, (I use stuff like Xandros and Linspire which have "click here to update everything on your computer" buttons.) So listing off a bunch of people who probably wouldn't like to know they're being used as examples of "if ___ can do it - ANYBODY can do it, because this person has no clue what they're doing!" is unlikely to help. I've found most users, regardless of age, gender, or computer experience, can figure out how to use pretty much any WYSIWYG GUI-based word processor. It is one of the easiest types of software there is. It's the most type-writer like thing a computer can do. (Other than something like Notepad, which is still a word processor, just a really, really stripped down one.) The point is, instead of parading a bunch of "If Mikey likes it" end users - how about explaining why there are 24 RPMs or how to install OOo 2.0 on the distro the OP was talking about. Which I see Chris has done - so we can end this thread. BTW, Ubuntu had OOo 2.0 on it before 2.0 was released. -- - Chad Smith http://www.gimpshop.net/ Because everyone loves free software!
