Re: Affecting Institutional Change (Yeah Right)
On Wed, May 09, 2007 at 11:50:54AM -0400, Amy Templeton wrote:
> Yeah, I definitely do mention things about version control,
> privacy, etc., more than the virtue of free software (because
> strong as the latter argument is, it doesn't hold up unless people
> care). Basically my argument is always "Not everybody can open this
> file; that's bad. Here's how to save it as PDF or text. By the way,
> it's not just me that you should take this into consideration for,
> because people can see previous versions, it doesn't show up the
> same on other computers even if they're running the same version,
> if somebody's running a previous version they're forced to
> "upgrade," oh and they carry one of the most popular forms of
> computer virii. By the way, next time [if they're using their own
> computer and not a school one] consider downloading OpenOffice for
> free instead of shelling out a couple hundred dollars for a program
> that does it worse" [not an actual quote from any given spiel]. The
> problem is, there are a lot of people who need to hear this spiel
> two or three times before they'll listen, and a lot of people who
> need to hear it.
You should actively discourage the use of Vista. If opening M$ files
needed the use of Vista, I would *refuse* to use it and insist on a non
proprietry format. Search for "bad vista", "trusted computing" for some
documentation on the issues involved. It strikes at the very heart of
the dangers of lock-in etc. Most people hear enough M$ bashing that it
becomes like "the boy who cried wolf" until ... you get eaten all up.
Don't bash M$ at every chance you get. XP is much more preferable than
Vista. Even diehard M$ supporters listen when you say "You're not using
Vista are you?" (OK, needs to be worded to suit the audience), because
they have heard "nasty things" about their own non-M$ software suddenly
refuses to run because the OS "thinks" it is untrusted software.
In reality, the presence of Vista should really help you if people are
shown the docs which explain the dangers.
A search on "treacherous computing" should also help.
Good luck!
--
Chris.
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