* Douglas Tutty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [2006 Oct 31 10:14 -0600]:
> On Tue, Oct 31, 2006 at 04:40:55PM +0100, Zoran Kolic wrote:
> > > >> However, to just read properly .doc files that people email me thinking
> > > >> that its the only format around, what works? I need not just the text
> > > >> but collumns, tables, images, the works.
> >
> > Who sends you doc files? Ask for
> > ogg, mpeg2 or xxx files.
>
> People who think operating a computer is using MS office. Period.
>
> They get a glazed look when I ask for plain text even if the .doc files
> they send are only straight text. Since I've never used a windows
> computer (started with OS/2 and went to Debian directly), I don't know
> what extra work there is for them, but I understand that the windows
> recipients have to do extra work if its not a .doc file. The sender
> tells me its more work to send .doc to everyone else and something else
> to me.
Obviously, this is a training problem, or a social problem and not a
technical problem, if you will. In the save dialog, there is a
drop-down menu of file types. Of course there is the warning dialog
afterward that tells the user that saving in the selected format may
cause a loss of formatting and other fancy document properties. Many
poorly trained users interpret this as a serious error and not as the
simple bit of information that can be safely ignored that it is. They
have trained themselves to avoid these pop-up boxes at all costs.
While that seems trite to us here, for many it can be a very big deal
and it's a mental threshold they refuse to cross. I have the
misfortune to support such users from time-to-time.
- Nate >>
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