On Tue, Oct 31, 2006 at 12:13:02PM -0600, Nate Bargmann wrote:
> * 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.
I feel their pain, though, and myself get concerned when confronted with
such a choice. Who's to say whether, after "saving as" a text format,
they'll be left editing a text document or the structured document they
think they're working on. These application choices and behaviors vary,
and only rote memorization (training?) or study of man/help pages can
clarify what happens. I've been nailed a few times using vi (or vim) when
I ":w somefile" and continue, only to find that I've subsequently been
writing to a different file than I ("poorly trained user") thought I was.
> 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.
IMHO its not so much a user problem but an indicator of the immaturity of
the computer industry. The folks that send me .doc, .xls, .html files
are doing their non computer-oriented and very busy jobs, and are doing
what their tools make easy to do. Check back in 10 or 20 years to see
how things shake out.
The bottom line for me is to deal with it on reception. I have mutt
set up to auto-convert Word files to text, and if that seems inadequate,
use OpenOffice (via X on another host) to have another go at it.
I see this entry in ~/.muttrc:
auto_view application/msword
and these in /etc/mailcap:
application/msword; wvMime '%s'; description=Microsoft Word Document;
test=test -n "$DISPLAY"
application/msword; wvText '%s' /dev/stdout; description=Microsoft Word
Document; copiousoutput
application/msword; wordview '%s'; description="MS Word Text"; test=test
"$DISPLAY"
application/msword; catdoc '%s'; copiousoutput; description="MS Word Text";
I have no idea which of the three "MS Word Text" translators will be
chosen, though surely that's obvious to a "well trained user". ;-)
Ken
--
Ken Irving, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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