Oh, it gets better: on the home page itself: "AbiWord is a free word processing program similar to Microsoft® Word. It is suitable for typing papers, letters, reports, memos, and so forth."
When you compare yourself to the leading commercial product, and then fail to be comparable to that product... well, what would be "absurd" is expecting the newbies to not be disgruntled!
"As AbiWord evolves, it becomes a serious alternative to commercial products for more and more people..."
"As AbiWord is getting more powerful and usable, we attract more and more users who expect the same feature set and product polish as they'll find in a commercial product such as Microsoft Word. Which is, in a simple word, absurd."
So AbiWord is becoming a serious alternative to commercial products, but doesn't have the same functionality as a commercial product?!?
Don't mislead the newbies, and you won't have upset newbies. Good motto to live by.
I wailed (whaled?) on the manager. Crackpot spaz? Probably. I despise companies that have a fuck-the-consumer attitude.
Re:Please, let's not spread the DivX
on
The Hype of the Rings
·
· Score: 0, Offtopic
Sorry, buddy: it's not that I've got anything against Tolkien and New Line Cinema nor any of the actors... but I have a big hate-on for Famous Players Theatres and there is no way in heaven or hell that I will EVER set foot in their theatre again.
I took my favourite kids out to see Monsters Inc. Matinee. With four drinks and one popcorn, I ended up spending fifty-five bucks on it. Now, I knew it would be expensive... but I was not prepared for the dicking-around I got when I requested a small bag to help share the popcorn.
Basically, they refused to give me a bag until I threatened to kick up one helluva fuss. For less than a nickle, they were willing to lose a customer for life. And this after they'd already screwed me for more than fifty bucks!
So fuck 'em. They will never, ever, EVER see me again. There's a private second-run theatre in town, and there are several video stores. I don't need Famous Players, I don't want Famous Players, and I sure as hell will never give money to Famous Players again.
I recommend that everyone do the same: refuse to pay the outrageous prices. Quit going to the theatre. Let consumer action force them to become reasonable once again -- four bucks for a dime bag of popcorn is not acceptable! Nine bucks for a six-year old is not acceptable! Three bucks for sugary water is not acceptable!
When presenting their tax return to the IRS, they will claim the retail value of the donated software/hardware. This will provide them with a $1 billion write-off, either as a loss or as a donation. It will go a long way toward earning them a tax refund.
When presenting their annual report, though, they will claim the manufacturing/raw cost of the donated software/hardware. This will show up as a piddling $100 thousand loss, not at all noticeable. The investors will be mollified.
In short, they get a win-win: they win against the IRS, and they win against their shareholders. It's just a matter of fiddling the numbers... standard accounting practice, seemingly specially designed to let companies get away with all sorts of shenanigans.
The little shit-squeeze that Slashdot has just graciously provided another bijillion hits to, is getting paid to scare people away from PayPal. He's trying to scrounge CitiBank referrels.
Way to assist the spammers and slimeballs, Slashdot!
Oooh. That's a scary, scary story. Cringely had an article about commoditizing the net, too, in which MS would offer its own solution to the virus problem -- proprietary protocols. TCP/IP will be marketed as the cause of viruses and all other MS problems.
I think you should send your info to Cringely. He'll run with it. Maybe he can even get confirmation that you're right.
A simple loop shouldn't be against code. Wire runs down into the box, and right back out. It doesn't get cut at all. If having the wire fold back on itself is a no-no, then have it run through one knockout and out another.
Who needs a guarantee that I don't lose the map?! Not having the map isn't any worse than not having the boxes in the first place.
Run some beefy nylon string through the studs. This will give you the opportunity to pull cable in the future. Use separate holes, and smooth off the edges so that the chances of snagging are reduced.
Oh, and now's the time to get the electrician to drop a loop down to a box every fourth stud or so. You *can* *not* have too many electrical boxes ready to be used.
Make sure you have an accurate map of their placement. Then let the sheetrock guys cover 'em up: most of the boxes will go unused. But the day you desperately need an outlet *right there,* you'll be eversothankful you had the foresight to have a hidden box ready to go...
Or find a wrecking site for some old store or school, and see if you can nip the old conduit. Cheap as anything. Probably EM proof, too!
Don't forget to also wire for sound and cable. You should have shielded speaker/audio/video cable running all over the place, and the old cable company television cable, too.
I think that what you (we) said is basically true: advertising is a con game, sold to suckers. Suckers buy the advertising, thinking it will pay back better than it costs; and suckers buy the products, thinking the advertising is truthful.
I agree: smokers are probably brand-loyal: they stick with what they started with.
Does the advertising influence their first choice in cigarettes, or do they smoke what their friends ended up smoking?
I suspect the latter. Which means that, except for influencing the original "Eve" of that cluster of friends, the advertising is ineffective. It's just that influencing Eve is important enough that it's worth expending millions on capturing her mindshare.
What I figure is probably happening with advertising is that it's mainly to establish brand consciousness for first-time buyers. After they've bought, consumers tend to remain brand-loyal, and the advertising has little to no effect on them.
Big Question: Do advertisements work, or are companies being duped?
Do advertisements work? Is there really an increase in sales after a product is advertised? Does everyone run out and buy Vidal Sassoon when the salon advertisement plays? Does GM really sell more "like a rocks" because of their ads?
I understand that at one level, advertisements must work: people won't buy a product if they aren't aware of it.
But beyond making people aware (ie. stating "Hey, this product exists, here's what it can do for you" in the simplest possible form), does advertising work?
Do flashy annoying ads work better than static ads?
Or are businesses being suckered by the world's best conmen?
Ventura. Meets all your requirements. Completely customizable UI -- you can redefine all toolbars, buttons, shortcuts, etc. Out of the box, the UI is far better than FrameMaker. Can't say much about its conversion filters; they should be getting better in the next release. If you use Word styles, you'll feel right at home with Ventura. Scriptable, too, and with a very supportive user community (see the Corel newsserver).
I am being perfectly honest when I say that I have beaten Word into submission. I would say "mastered" Word, but I think "beaten" has the more accurate connotation. I am, in a word, a Word God.
And I've nearly completely abandoned it. It sticks around for document exchange and for its pretty decent change-tracking for when I am writing in a team environment.
For everything else, I've turned to Corel Ventura. In mastering Word, I used Styles and Frames extensively. Ventura uses Styles and Frames extensively, too -- and has all the geeky typographic control that I could ever wish for (and more. I keep discovering new functionality, a year later. My god, it's sweet!)
Linux geeks might be able to use Adobe FrameMaker for the same thing, though its user interface is pretty crappy.
Either way, Word can be forced to do neat things... but it's more work than is required for using Ventura, and there is a final limit, readily surpassed by Ventura. Also, Word completely goes for a shit when you get into long documents. Ventura is designed for long documents.
In the end -- and perhaps contrary to the general subtext of the parent thread -- I learned new skills and habits to make use of a new program that is, basically, a replacement for Word.
There's something there about ease of use and functionality, that should be well considered by the Linux community. It's not enough to merely clone the applications, but they need to do more important stuff, more easily. I'm not sure how to define it and discuss it...
Er, abandon that truly *awful* Quark, and take up Ventura. You'll be far more productive and will have far greater typographic control. Quark, to be blunt, sucks shit. No, really. Compare the UI and functionality.
"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them."
Mark the parent of this comment up! Up! UP! Make sure everyone reads that passage -- it has never held so true as today, when it's illegal to speak out against the government, illegal to smoke an herb, illegal to share music with friends, illegal to use encryption, illegal to decrypt!
You end up with the one application that keeps everyone tied to Windows. Julee down in clerical doesn't give a rat's ass what OS she's using: she doesn't use an OS, she uses software applications -- namely, Word and Excel.
This means the boss can swing to Linux without having to retrain her. His investment in her skills, which have taken years to develop, aren't going to get thrown out the window. By gosh, maybe he'll be a little amenable to switching to Linux now!
Quit trying to be isolationist. That's the game Microsoft plays. Play bigger: encourage everyone to come to Linux.
Slashdot Mirror
Oh, it gets better: on the home page itself: "AbiWord is a free word processing program similar to Microsoft® Word. It is suitable for typing papers, letters, reports, memos, and so forth."
When you compare yourself to the leading commercial product, and then fail to be comparable to that product... well, what would be "absurd" is expecting the newbies to not be disgruntled!
"As AbiWord evolves, it becomes a serious alternative to commercial products for more and more people..."
"As AbiWord is getting more powerful and usable, we attract more and more users who expect the same feature set and product polish as they'll find in a commercial product such as Microsoft Word. Which is, in a simple word, absurd."
So AbiWord is becoming a serious alternative to commercial products, but doesn't have the same functionality as a commercial product?!?
Don't mislead the newbies, and you won't have upset newbies. Good motto to live by.
I wailed (whaled?) on the manager. Crackpot spaz? Probably. I despise companies that have a fuck-the-consumer attitude.
Sorry, buddy: it's not that I've got anything against Tolkien and New Line Cinema nor any of the actors... but I have a big hate-on for Famous Players Theatres and there is no way in heaven or hell that I will EVER set foot in their theatre again.
I took my favourite kids out to see Monsters Inc. Matinee. With four drinks and one popcorn, I ended up spending fifty-five bucks on it. Now, I knew it would be expensive... but I was not prepared for the dicking-around I got when I requested a small bag to help share the popcorn.
Basically, they refused to give me a bag until I threatened to kick up one helluva fuss. For less than a nickle, they were willing to lose a customer for life. And this after they'd already screwed me for more than fifty bucks!
So fuck 'em. They will never, ever, EVER see me again. There's a private second-run theatre in town, and there are several video stores. I don't need Famous Players, I don't want Famous Players, and I sure as hell will never give money to Famous Players again.
I recommend that everyone do the same: refuse to pay the outrageous prices. Quit going to the theatre. Let consumer action force them to become reasonable once again -- four bucks for a dime bag of popcorn is not acceptable! Nine bucks for a six-year old is not acceptable! Three bucks for sugary water is not acceptable!
WARNING: The Google cache site recommended in the above post (#2684895) is "I Love White Folks," apparently a neo-nazi site.
The $1 billion charge is a win for Microsoft.
When presenting their tax return to the IRS, they will claim the retail value of the donated software/hardware. This will provide them with a $1 billion write-off, either as a loss or as a donation. It will go a long way toward earning them a tax refund.
When presenting their annual report, though, they will claim the manufacturing/raw cost of the donated software/hardware. This will show up as a piddling $100 thousand loss, not at all noticeable. The investors will be mollified.
In short, they get a win-win: they win against the IRS, and they win against their shareholders. It's just a matter of fiddling the numbers... standard accounting practice, seemingly specially designed to let companies get away with all sorts of shenanigans.
The website owner is being paid to scare people away from PayPal.
Slashdot gets suckered once again!
The little shit-squeeze that Slashdot has just graciously provided another bijillion hits to, is getting paid to scare people away from PayPal. He's trying to scrounge CitiBank referrels.
Way to assist the spammers and slimeballs, Slashdot!
Oooh. That's a scary, scary story. Cringely had an article about commoditizing the net, too, in which MS would offer its own solution to the virus problem -- proprietary protocols. TCP/IP will be marketed as the cause of viruses and all other MS problems.
I think you should send your info to Cringely. He'll run with it. Maybe he can even get confirmation that you're right.
A simple loop shouldn't be against code. Wire runs down into the box, and right back out. It doesn't get cut at all. If having the wire fold back on itself is a no-no, then have it run through one knockout and out another.
Who needs a guarantee that I don't lose the map?! Not having the map isn't any worse than not having the boxes in the first place.
Arrrgh. Another thing!
Run some beefy nylon string through the studs. This will give you the opportunity to pull cable in the future. Use separate holes, and smooth off the edges so that the chances of snagging are reduced.
(This, if you don't do the conduiting.)
Oh, and now's the time to get the electrician to drop a loop down to a box every fourth stud or so. You *can* *not* have too many electrical boxes ready to be used.
Make sure you have an accurate map of their placement. Then let the sheetrock guys cover 'em up: most of the boxes will go unused. But the day you desperately need an outlet *right there,* you'll be eversothankful you had the foresight to have a hidden box ready to go...
Or find a wrecking site for some old store or school, and see if you can nip the old conduit. Cheap as anything. Probably EM proof, too!
Don't forget to also wire for sound and cable. You should have shielded speaker/audio/video cable running all over the place, and the old cable company television cable, too.
I think there are a few others you should be flogging:
Flog your users for being so fucking stupid!
Flog Microsoft for creating such insecure software. (Why doesn't it put up bells and flashing lights when a dummy clicks an executable?!?)
Flog the nosepickers for being such pricks. Little shits should go find something useful to do with their lives instead of pissing off the world.
Ah, you've said it better than I! :-)
I think that what you (we) said is basically true: advertising is a con game, sold to suckers. Suckers buy the advertising, thinking it will pay back better than it costs; and suckers buy the products, thinking the advertising is truthful.
"Cheatsheet? Er, no, ma'am -- look, it's blank paper..."
I agree: smokers are probably brand-loyal: they stick with what they started with.
Does the advertising influence their first choice in cigarettes, or do they smoke what their friends ended up smoking?
I suspect the latter. Which means that, except for influencing the original "Eve" of that cluster of friends, the advertising is ineffective. It's just that influencing Eve is important enough that it's worth expending millions on capturing her mindshare.
What I figure is probably happening with advertising is that it's mainly to establish brand consciousness for first-time buyers. After they've bought, consumers tend to remain brand-loyal, and the advertising has little to no effect on them.
Big Question: Do advertisements work, or are companies being duped?
Do advertisements work? Is there really an increase in sales after a product is advertised? Does everyone run out and buy Vidal Sassoon when the salon advertisement plays? Does GM really sell more "like a rocks" because of their ads?
I understand that at one level, advertisements must work: people won't buy a product if they aren't aware of it.
But beyond making people aware (ie. stating "Hey, this product exists, here's what it can do for you" in the simplest possible form), does advertising work?
Do flashy annoying ads work better than static ads?
Or are businesses being suckered by the world's best conmen?
Ventura. Meets all your requirements. Completely customizable UI -- you can redefine all toolbars, buttons, shortcuts, etc. Out of the box, the UI is far better than FrameMaker. Can't say much about its conversion filters; they should be getting better in the next release. If you use Word styles, you'll feel right at home with Ventura. Scriptable, too, and with a very supportive user community (see the Corel newsserver).
I am being perfectly honest when I say that I have beaten Word into submission. I would say "mastered" Word, but I think "beaten" has the more accurate connotation. I am, in a word, a Word God.
And I've nearly completely abandoned it. It sticks around for document exchange and for its pretty decent change-tracking for when I am writing in a team environment.
For everything else, I've turned to Corel Ventura. In mastering Word, I used Styles and Frames extensively. Ventura uses Styles and Frames extensively, too -- and has all the geeky typographic control that I could ever wish for (and more. I keep discovering new functionality, a year later. My god, it's sweet!)
Linux geeks might be able to use Adobe FrameMaker for the same thing, though its user interface is pretty crappy.
Either way, Word can be forced to do neat things... but it's more work than is required for using Ventura, and there is a final limit, readily surpassed by Ventura. Also, Word completely goes for a shit when you get into long documents. Ventura is designed for long documents.
In the end -- and perhaps contrary to the general subtext of the parent thread -- I learned new skills and habits to make use of a new program that is, basically, a replacement for Word.
There's something there about ease of use and functionality, that should be well considered by the Linux community. It's not enough to merely clone the applications, but they need to do more important stuff, more easily. I'm not sure how to define it and discuss it...
Oooh! Touche! :-)
And you provide such a shining example of enlightened counter-argument!
Dipshit.
Er, abandon that truly *awful* Quark, and take up Ventura. You'll be far more productive and will have far greater typographic control. Quark, to be blunt, sucks shit. No, really. Compare the UI and functionality.
"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them."
Mark the parent of this comment up! Up! UP! Make sure everyone reads that passage -- it has never held so true as today, when it's illegal to speak out against the government, illegal to smoke an herb, illegal to share music with friends, illegal to use encryption, illegal to decrypt!
"How will this help the community"?!?
Tell me how it will *hurt* the community!
You end up with the one application that keeps everyone tied to Windows. Julee down in clerical doesn't give a rat's ass what OS she's using: she doesn't use an OS, she uses software applications -- namely, Word and Excel.
This means the boss can swing to Linux without having to retrain her. His investment in her skills, which have taken years to develop, aren't going to get thrown out the window. By gosh, maybe he'll be a little amenable to switching to Linux now!
Quit trying to be isolationist. That's the game Microsoft plays. Play bigger: encourage everyone to come to Linux.