- Replaced their Office interface with that goddawful ever changing ribbon which certain geeks continue to defend despite it completely ruining productivity, and now they're incorporating it into every damn program they can
Does anyone have any data for this? My experience in legal has been pretty much the opposite. While having a relatively big learning curve, anecdotal information points to an increase in productivity, particularly in Outlook and Word.
Thanks.
The students are doing "cool" projects that I can only dream of doing in the real world. (Example - Programming a robot to swim across a lake and collect trash.) It makes me wonder if they will be disappointed with their first jobs, which will mostly consist of sitting at a cubicle all day and writing documents.
This isn't particularly new. I remember architecture students doing similar things when I was in university 20 years ago. I recall one design where a hot air balloon was used to transit between two fanciful towers. Cool, technically challenging, but not likely something we'll see in the real world.
My day job tracks law firms that have made the switch from WP to Word. We currently figure 80 of the top 100 law firms have gone over to some version of Word. The firms that haven't are certainly considering it, or living in a situation we refer to as the "Dual Shop of Horrors."
Firms give a number of reason for making the switch:
Client demand. Coporate customers almost universally use Word.
Interaction with the most popular document management systems. The most recent versions of many DMS' no longer function with WordPerfect
Better technical support. Corel's support is absolutely terrible.
Greater stabilty. WordPerfect has had serious memory and other issues since version 8
A wide variety of third party applications to assist with document repurposing, assembly, electronic filing, etc.
Growing use of Word by incoming lawyers
A better platform and methodology for the multiple destinations of a document. It's a very different word processor than WordPerfect, but the thought is that a skilled user can do much more with it
This being said, I did recently get accosted by a young attorney who swore WP 5.1 was the ultimate word processor. He never understood why his firm switched. Of course, that firm is no longer in business.
Frankly, I do find the idea of being treated like a potential criminal every time I launch the game offensive. It's like having a store run a criminal record check every time you wander in to buy something.
In some sense, isn't this the case? Unless I pay with cash, a store will take steps to validate my credit card, debit card, check, etc. This is a step to protect me against fraud and loss, and I appreciate the effort.
While I hear the concerns about the status of Valve authentification in the future, I also understand these steps to protect themselves against theft.
Rex Nohting fades as fast as the future,
Nothing clings like the past.
Why isn't critical thinking taught in schools? Ethics? Consumer awareness (a basic defence against suffering in a market economy)?
As an ex-teacher, and the spouse of a teacher, let me asure you these skills are formost in the mind of most educators, and all were covered in one form or another in my seventh grade classroom. However, instruction in these necessary skills were often at odds with the public; thinking them too "liberal" and taking away from the three R's.
Rex Nothing fades as fast as the future
Nothing clings like the past
How is this comparison made? What measure can we look at to compare how well people calculate change now versus 20 years ago? All acedotes aside, this is just not verifiable.
If we go back far enough, the standards change altogether. Andrew Jackson, I believe, thought a person who could figure out only one way to spell a word lacked creativity and intelligence.
This sound like the time honored tradition of one generation bitching about the next.
RexCelestis Nothing fades as fast as the future
Nothing clings like the past
I agree with a lot that I've read here, particularly with the statements relating management's different view and perspective on almost any issue.
I work in a pretty small shop, around 25 employees. It provides me with a lot of access to my supervior, and my CEO. When I don't understand a business decision, I find my higher ups pretty easy to talk to, paticularly if I can phrase a question in a non-threatening manner. When I first entered the private sector, I read a copy of "How to Win Friends and Influence People" and found it priceless for its suggestions on communicating with others.
Sometimes ideas have to be sold, and sold hard. A recent pitch I made required several hours of work and some preparation. It served two purposes: showed management my commitment to the idea, and dismissed the supposed benefits of competing plans. Like anything else, sometimes you just have to put the ideas down in black and white.
What doesn't work in my shop is not knowing what you're talking about, and leading with a bad attitude. An approach lambasted by a co-worker as "impossible" proved to take only 15 minutes to figure out. That peer still lives under a cloud and lost a lot of trust from management that day.
I find taking the time to research and sell an idea will bring management around. They have hired you for your expertise and should welcome the input. However, keep in mind that you may not see the entire business picture. Those times mark learning opportunities.
I can't say this matched my experience as a teacher. We stressed personal responsibility, discipline, and meaningful consequences for actions. Where my seventh grade team ran into issues is that many of our kids seemed unaware of the consequences of their actions, or the actual control they have over them.
Beyond trying to blame any one element, I believe a lot of society teaches these kids that violence is an acceptible and often time easier method to get what you want. A player may have to kill the monster to get the gold, but I don't think that's much different from a kid stealing a game cartridge because it's easier than saving up the money to buy it.
I didn't hear many teachers blaming video games as a root cause of teen violence. I actually wiped the floor with a bunch of kids while playing Sould Calibur II just because I took a moment to read a few combos. I turned it into a quick lesson. We more often lamented the limited control we exerted once kids left the the school for their often consequence free or violent homes.
BTW, I can tell the previous poster hasn't taught. Calling anyone who's ever lead a class a coward falls way off the mark.
Rex
Nothing fades as fast as the future
Nothing clings like the past
Slashdot Mirror
- Replaced their Office interface with that goddawful ever changing ribbon which certain geeks continue to defend despite it completely ruining productivity, and now they're incorporating it into every damn program they can
Does anyone have any data for this? My experience in legal has been pretty much the opposite. While having a relatively big learning curve, anecdotal information points to an increase in productivity, particularly in Outlook and Word. Thanks.
The students are doing "cool" projects that I can only dream of doing in the real world. (Example - Programming a robot to swim across a lake and collect trash.) It makes me wonder if they will be disappointed with their first jobs, which will mostly consist of sitting at a cubicle all day and writing documents.
This isn't particularly new. I remember architecture students doing similar things when I was in university 20 years ago. I recall one design where a hot air balloon was used to transit between two fanciful towers. Cool, technically challenging, but not likely something we'll see in the real world.
My day job tracks law firms that have made the switch from WP to Word. We currently figure 80 of the top 100 law firms have gone over to some version of Word. The firms that haven't are certainly considering it, or living in a situation we refer to as the "Dual Shop of Horrors."
Firms give a number of reason for making the switch:
This being said, I did recently get accosted by a young attorney who swore WP 5.1 was the ultimate word processor. He never understood why his firm switched. Of course, that firm is no longer in business.
In some sense, isn't this the case? Unless I pay with cash, a store will take steps to validate my credit card, debit card, check, etc. This is a step to protect me against fraud and loss, and I appreciate the effort.
While I hear the concerns about the status of Valve authentification in the future, I also understand these steps to protect themselves against theft.
Rex
Nohting fades as fast as the future,
Nothing clings like the past.
Third degree burns are the most serious. First degree burns rarely require treatment.
Rex
This is pretty interesting. Just last week President Bush said the U.S. would "not have an all volunteer Army."
Of course he restated himself a few moments later, but it's not what he meant that's important. It's what he said that matters, right?
I guess that makes him a flip-flopper.
Nothing fades as fast as the future,
Nothing clings like the past.
White Wolf uses d10 for their rolls.
The Traveller 4th Edition uses strictly d6. It also uses half dice system. That's a bit screwed up.
Rex
Nothing fades as fast as the future,
Nothing clings like the past
Why isn't critical thinking taught in schools? Ethics? Consumer awareness (a basic defence against suffering in a market economy)?
As an ex-teacher, and the spouse of a teacher, let me asure you these skills are formost in the mind of most educators, and all were covered in one form or another in my seventh grade classroom. However, instruction in these necessary skills were often at odds with the public; thinking them too "liberal" and taking away from the three R's.
Rex
Nothing fades as fast as the future
Nothing clings like the past
If we go back far enough, the standards change altogether. Andrew Jackson, I believe, thought a person who could figure out only one way to spell a word lacked creativity and intelligence.
This sound like the time honored tradition of one generation bitching about the next.
RexCelestis
Nothing fades as fast as the future
Nothing clings like the past
I work in a pretty small shop, around 25 employees. It provides me with a lot of access to my supervior, and my CEO. When I don't understand a business decision, I find my higher ups pretty easy to talk to, paticularly if I can phrase a question in a non-threatening manner. When I first entered the private sector, I read a copy of "How to Win Friends and Influence People" and found it priceless for its suggestions on communicating with others.
Sometimes ideas have to be sold, and sold hard. A recent pitch I made required several hours of work and some preparation. It served two purposes: showed management my commitment to the idea, and dismissed the supposed benefits of competing plans. Like anything else, sometimes you just have to put the ideas down in black and white.
What doesn't work in my shop is not knowing what you're talking about, and leading with a bad attitude. An approach lambasted by a co-worker as "impossible" proved to take only 15 minutes to figure out. That peer still lives under a cloud and lost a lot of trust from management that day.
I find taking the time to research and sell an idea will bring management around. They have hired you for your expertise and should welcome the input. However, keep in mind that you may not see the entire business picture. Those times mark learning opportunities.
Beyond trying to blame any one element, I believe a lot of society teaches these kids that violence is an acceptible and often time easier method to get what you want. A player may have to kill the monster to get the gold, but I don't think that's much different from a kid stealing a game cartridge because it's easier than saving up the money to buy it.
I didn't hear many teachers blaming video games as a root cause of teen violence. I actually wiped the floor with a bunch of kids while playing Sould Calibur II just because I took a moment to read a few combos. I turned it into a quick lesson. We more often lamented the limited control we exerted once kids left the the school for their often consequence free or violent homes.
BTW, I can tell the previous poster hasn't taught. Calling anyone who's ever lead a class a coward falls way off the mark.
Rex
Nothing fades as fast as the future
Nothing clings like the past