Date: Tue, 22 Sep 1998 12:53:12 -0500 (CDT) From: Chris Dillon <cdillon@wolves.k12.mo.us> To: Sue Blake <sue@welearn.com.au> Cc: chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Network Computers Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.02A.9809221229210.5695-100000@duey.hs.wolves.k12.mo.us> In-Reply-To: <19980923011811.37850@welearn.com.au>
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On Wed, 23 Sep 1998, Sue Blake wrote: > On Tue, Sep 22, 1998 at 12:24:08AM -0500, Chris Dillon wrote: > > On Tue, 22 Sep 1998, Sue Blake wrote: > > > > > They wouldn't give two hoots what OS is under it, or even what word > > > processor it is, so long as it's the same look and feel. That's all > > > they know, the whole sum total of what computers are to them. They have > > > never been granted access to anything else, much less control. > > > > We switched from Office 95 to Office 97 about a year or so ago. That > > was actually quite a change in user interface (I hate Office 97... I > > managed to stand using Office 95. It did less behind your back or > > without your permission). I had to munge around and find menu items > > that moved from one menu to an entirely different one, or even > > disappeared entirely and moved to a dialog box that popped up when you > > accessed something else. If our users managed to swallow that change, > > learning StarOffice or Applixware should be a breeze. :-) > > Interesting. How did they react to the change? What did they say about > it? What did they find most difficult to get used to? What did they > like? This is all stuff you can draw on to win them over. I never bothered to research it. Someone else decided to make the change and I just installed the stupid thing. I imagine there were people that had a hard time with it at first, but most of the help for that came from people other than myself. One thing that bugs me the most about Word97 is all the autoformatting it does. It thinks it knows best and you have to actually do extra work to keep it the way you want it. I imagine that frustrated a lot of people. I would have turned off all that autoformatting by default, but that isn't what I was told to do. > > StarOffice actually looks very much like Office 95 (the wp and > > spreadsheet parts of it), or at least I think so, so that wouldn't be a > > problem for most people to use. I've never seen ApplixWare, but I > > imagine it wouldn't be too hard to grasp either. > > Some time ago I was forced to do some fairly advanced word processing > to a Word document under sin95. Eventually I stole the document and > tried to finish it off with Applixware. It looked similar enough, but > there were real problems when I tried to use keys instead of the mouse > for speed. They just didn't work right. For example there's ways to > select a couple of lines and move them up or down the page, apply > styles, flip in and out of outline view, do battle with tables and > numbered lists, and so on. To do all that stuff with the mouse would be > way to slow. Unless the editing keys are identical it'll be far from an > easy change, no matter how it looks on screen. I suspect Star Office > would differ too. If all its key commands are the same, you've got > exactly what it is that they've decided they want. Who cares what OS is > under it. Could this be because Windows actually has a more standard (or rather, inflexible) key map? It seems like a lot of different factors can affect what keys do what in X, including which X server you use, which window manager you use, etc. > > Fortunately, training is just what we're in the business of. :-) > > Uh-oh. So the scairdy-staff are examples of your mob's training? :-) The not-so-scairdy-anymore staff if you want to think of it like that. They're used to it. :-) > > > They would love it if they judged it by our criteria. They certainly > > > won't, and they certainly won't. > > > > I'm not wanting them to judge it by our criteria. I want to see if I > > can create something that the average user wouldn't have much trouble > > learning how to use. It should be easy to whip up stuff that looks > > identical up to a certain point (use fvwm95, maybe an explorer lookalike > > file browser, etc.). > > Give them enough free time to play, with a playful attitude, and they'll > get used to it. In most businesses that time isn't available and the > playful attitude is too guilt-ridden. I've had a hell of a job getting > staff to play solitaire during work time to improve their mouse skills, > even though they liked the game a lot and had been ordered to play it. I know what you mean. I feel guilty sitting down to read all this mail sometimes, even though 99% of it is techincal and could help my job out a lot. I'm not working at the moment, so I don't feel guilty right now. > Maybe you could find a familiar (no-learning) game that would get them > in. Don't bother with solitaire or anything that could look like a > cheap imitation of what they've seen. I dunno what game though. I think just calling it a "game" in the first place could incite a feeling of guilt. How about "interactive instructional demo"? :-) > Also, there might be some handy work toys that aren't available on the > other system. I don't know what they're missing out on now, but you > could think of a few things they'd appreciate. Cut and paste will be a > winner once it's explained. If they're teachers, consider setting up > xmbase-grok for student info and grades (I've used it for that and it > worked well). Select a field delimiter that makes the files compatible > with their old system. Find some toys they'll be miserable without :-) I know one thing I really hate to go without is the text copy/paste the way it is done in X. Select with left button, paste with middle (or chord the two buttons for two-button mice). Can't get simpler than that. -- Chris Dillon - cdillon@wolves.k12.mo.us - cdillon@inter-linc.net /* FreeBSD: The fastest and most stable server OS on the planet. For Intel x86 and compatibles (SPARC and Alpha under development) (http://www.freebsd.org) */ To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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