LibreOffice and OpenOffice

Hi, Robert,

Before I get to my responses, some comments.

I'm going to write my comments in blue. I don't know if the color will be
retained as the message goes through the system, but if it does, it will
make it easier to know which of my comments are for this submission.

A. You're posting to a mailing list in HTML? You don't know any better?
B. You don't know that any decent MUA or news reader will indicate quotes?
How long did you say you've been on the internet?

        ........snip of superfluous crap no one cares about.........

          .........snip........

> >
> > It's user support where things fall flat on it's face. I only have one
> > person in my family and friends who would even have a clue as to how to
> > utilize a mailing list. It's way too cumbersome and clunky for the
> people I
> > know. Even I had trouble figuring this one out! LOL
>
> That's hard to believe. Mailing lists are dead simple assuming the
> ability to read with comprehension. You're only correct if your
> definition of user support is individual personal hand holding.
>

Reading with comprehension is not universal.

So?

     ........snip of yet more superfluous crap........

> >
> > There are a lot of users out there, I believe, that could make use of
> open
> > source software, but these people usually don't even understand
> > directories/folders, partitioning, the very basics of using a computer.
> > When I start to talk to them about disk cleanup and defragging (Windows),
> > you should see the blank faces I encounter. :slight_smile:
>
> Little of this is necessary to use the GUI (graphical user interface).
>

As I wrote in another post, any particular GUI is not universally intuitive
to everyone.

Intuitiveness has nothing to do with it.

>
> >
> > But surprisingly, some of them have figured out how to use forums. Even
> > thought a lot of the forums have very nice editors, the fourms seem to be
> > lousy when it comes to instructions on how to use the editor. The Open
> > Office forum editor has the /list commands, but how my average people
> will
> > know anything about using HTML commands?
>
> What HTML commands are needed to use an editor?
>

If you go to the full editor in the Open Office forums, you'll find the
following commands listed across the top of the reply window: Code, List,
List=, Img, Table=, Aligntable=, etc. When you click the button, the
formatting is essentially like using HTML. I've always believed this just
to be a customized version/offshoot of HTML, if you will, and modified so it
doesn't interfere with regular HTML code.

I will admit I could be wrong about that, but I believe the observation
still stands, how is the average user supposed to easily understand how to
implement those codes?

These codes aren't required to post a simple message.

         ........snip........

>
> > I will own up to not looking for
> > instructions, but there's also no link to instructions that I've spotted.
>
> Not looking for instructions is your own fault.
>

:: big grin :: I do believe I admitted that.

Yes, but that doesn't excuse it.

>
> >
> > Searching the help info tends to be a PITA.
>
> Using a search engine is a PITA?
>

I will give you this point. I went back and reread what I wrote, and I
could have worded it differently and better! :slight_smile: I was not referring to
search engines like Google, Ask.com, etc. I was referring to things like
the mail archives here for Libre Office. I don't spend a lot of time asking
for help. So, if I want to search the last year's mail for a particular
subject, I've not figured out how to search a years' worth of messages
efficiently.

Don't know how to use the Edit > Find browser function, huh?

I've only been here less than a week, and searching the site for help files
just isn't a high priority at the moment. I do have other responsibilities
that come before this.

Then don't complain about the difficulty of searching.

When it comes to using something like Google, so much of it depends on
selecting the correct search terms, and I'm lousy at it. I can search for X
for a half hour, and pretty much come up empty. Yet I have a sister I can
ask to search for X for me, and she'll find it in 5 minutes. Irritates the
Devil out of me! LOL I could be using the term "bucket", and find
nothing. She'll use "pail", and find it. It all depends on the search
terms chosen.

That's your fault, not the developers'.

> If M$ online support is in the toilet and you don't recommend OSS, what
> do you recommend to new users? *gasp* MAC?
>

Oh, come on, Robert! :slight_smile: Let's not get into the "my OS is better than your
OS" discussion.

With me it's a matter of not liking to give my money to a control freak.
  

>
> Again, why is using these search engines a PITA? Do you expect to find
> information without expending any effort?
>

It's not a question of expending effort, but a question of how much effort
you need to expend.

No, it's laziness.

          .........snip..........

> So, because information isn't as easy to find as *you* think it should
> be, you will discourage new users from trying OSS.
>

Correct. Because in general, they are totally lost using the majority of a
computer's ability. From your comments here, I do think you would find it
hard to understand the very simple and basic computer questions I get asked.

No I wouldn't. I've heard them all, including "Why shouldn't I shut
down the computer by just pushing the on-off button?".

One more thing. Learn not to over quote.

Good afternoon, Mr ZenWiz

Thank you. That was so helpful I just can't describe it.

When I read your reply, I was perplexed, and took your comment as a bit less
than civil, and did not understand why. But thanks to the post by T. R.
Valentine, I know why.

I absolutely did *NOT* send a blank post to the mailing list. :frowning:
Somewhere the Dishmail/Gmail system, obviously web based, managed to screw
up and I have no way of opening my sent box that will display the email I
believed I was sending. Between the two rows of asterisks is a rewritten
reply of what I attempted to send.

.........snip........

And only Bob Holtzman's reply "tweaked my sensibilities", as the saying
goes. But I didn't want to fall into the "Tom and Dick" story line I
posted, so I sat back for a couple hours before writing my reply.

        .........snip........

Glad to see I haven't lost my touch. Actually, several of the things you
wrote lit my fuse too, so I guess we're about even. Truce?

I don't know, and your numbers have just as much validity as mine.

Not quite. http://www.woodgate.org/FAQs/netiquette.html.

"Including files in any format other than straight ASCII is to be
avoided. The use of uuencoded files, zipped files or even HTML files are
likely to mean that nobody will read your message. In some groups it
will result in the message being rejected."

<way too much material to quote>

Having a bad day?

Thank you.  That was so helpful I just can't describe it.

When I read your reply, I was perplexed, and took your comment as a bit less
than civil, and did not understand why.  But thanks to the post by T. R.
Valentine, I know why.

I absolutely did *NOT* send a blank post to the mailing list.   :frowning:
Somewhere the Dishmail/Gmail system, obviously web based, managed to screw
up and I have no way of opening my sent box that will display the email I
believed I was sending.  Between the two rows of asterisks is a rewritten
reply of what I attempted to send.

Okay, I'll buy that.

I will be happy to end the thread at this point.

If you were to split the conversation into two different threads, you run
the risk of destroying the continuity of the conversation.

I don't mind shortening the signature.  Dishmail/Gmail is set to
automatically append the signature, so I'll need to remember to manually
edit it.  And if I forget, please give me a bad time.

It appears that you did - thank you. No further bad time needed.

Ciao.

Ok. You people are so off topic. Grow up and move on!

<raspberry>

No I wouldn't. I've heard them all, including "Why shouldn't I shut
down the computer by just pushing the on-off button?".

I've been shutting down my PC like that ever since I can remember, so whats your point?.

One more thing. Learn not to over quote

These lists are *really* getting annoying, with all of the infighting, unnecessarily harsh criticism, and just downright rude and arrogant replies.

I generally attribute this sort of thing to bad days on the part of
whoever posts it - that's usually my excuse. Actually, this list is
pretty mild. You must never have belonged to a newsgroup....

:slight_smile:

Hi :slight_smile:

When people say a project has a large community people often read that as "a
large crowd of people that all love each other and get along well in a hippy
paradise". However, a quick look through an art gallery, literature, novels,
myths, religious stories, police reports and so on will soon show that most
violence or even just heated arguments take place inside communities, especially
between friends.

It is often that very heat that provides the energy of the community and helps
people find out what each other likes and helps develop long-lasting
friendships!

Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

I agree. The personal vendettas are better sorted out by other means. Let's leave it to posting helpful advice for LibreOffice users.
(>)

These lists are *really* getting annoying, with all of the infighting,
unnecessarily harsh criticism, and just downright rude and arrogant replies.

I generally attribute this sort of thing to bad days on the part of
whoever posts it - that's usually my excuse. Actually, this list is
pretty mild. You must never have belonged to a newsgroup....

:slight_smile:

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Glenn
glennst01@gmail.com