Re: Comments on Microsoft Open Source document

Alessandro Suardi (asuardi@uninetcom.it)
Thu, 05 Nov 1998 23:52:42 +0100

C S Hendrix wrote:
>
> In message <Pine.LNX.3.96.981105144146.25413B-100000@ps.cus.umist.ac.uk>, Riley
> Williams writes:
>
> > > anybody received an attachment from MS-Outlook recently? you need
> > > Outlook to extract the files - even Outlook Express cannot cope!
> >
> > I have a simple solution to this - if somebody sends me an attachment
> > that I can't extract, I send them a message saying so and advising
> > them to send it in a format that I can extract. As far as I'm
> > concerned, the onus is on the SENDER to ensure the recipient can use
> > what they're attaching, not on the recipient to waste time doing other
> > people's jobs for them...
>
> The problem is that when you are in the minority, you are faced with
> this more and more to the point where its useless to do anything.
> I have faced that at work. Eventually, I just did not have time
> to ask for other formats AND explain what that meant to people who
> had no clue. This in a company of 200 people.
>
> Now picture the same thing among the millions on the net. Aieeee!
>
> Microsoft is counting on. Most of the people you complain to are
> not even likely to understand what you are saying. Dumbing down
> users has this effect, and its to Microsoft's advantage.
>

The "Torvalds method" works for me. Customers will gladly accept a plain
text document if that contains what they need. My home mailbox welcomes
short messages with explicit constraints to MS stuff (don't send them).

The moment our IT people configure IMAP4 mail servers I am wiping out
Windows 95 from the laptop's hard disk. Linux is spreading. The dumber
user will not pick it up this millennium, but smarter users have choice.

And they're making it.

Ciao,

--alessandro <asuardi@uninetcom.it> <asuardi@it.oracle.com>

Linux 2.0.35/2.1.126 glibc-2.0.7-19 gcc-2.8.1 binutils-2.9.1.0.10

"I know I'm slow, but I'm not stupid" -- Roland Deschain

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/