On 3/7/06, Robin Laing <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > For users around here, 10 years behind is an improvement if "they" can > "control" what the software "does" to their work.
That's not a good argument for OOo, by any means. If that is the case - why use OOo when MS Office 97 is still around? I can't see this as a good thing for OOo. MS Office is a big > problem with many workers around here. They cannot get the formatting > to work the way they want and need. There are those times that MS > Office decides to change the formatting of a document and won't undo. Autocorrect and Autoformat can be turned off in any version of MSO. Have you ever heard a grown man scream after 3 hours of work just > went down the tubes because of this? It isn't pleasant. Um? He worked for 3 hours without saving? That's not MS's fault. Sure MS is making many major changes in their next version of Office > but if the reports are correct, it won't sell with workers if their > productivity is greatly affected. It will sell, regardless of any temporary productivity hits - simply because it's the latest, greatest version of MS Office. Workers don't buy software - IT techs and CEOs do. IT techs can only buy what corporate lets them - so they will buy MSO 2007, since "no one ever gets fired for buying Microsoft". How many workers will complain and > want to go back to the "Old Version?" I've never heard that complaint. To promote OOo you focus on what it *can* do - not what it can't. This article brings out a point I've been talking about for years on these lists. MSO focuses on the corporate users - the "Upper Tier" as some would say - and the users trickle down from there. By giving the corporate types what they want - MSO lets everyone get what they want (except Linux users, of course). According to the marketing machines, MSO can do everything the simple end user needs to get that report typed, and everything the CEO needs for his business. Having "useless bloat" isn't much of a problem for the end user, since the average PC today has Gigs of storage to spare. Plus, you can install as much or as little as you want. There are things MSO can do that OOo can't. The reverse is also true. That's what we need to focus on - what OOo can do that MSO can't. (PDF/Flash export, cross-platform continuality, no registration/legal hassels, free, open source, open format, etc..) -- - Chad Smith http://www.gimpshop.net/ http://www.whatisopenoffice.org/ Because everyone loves free software!
