Re: OT? Ode to Word

[Christine Pellar-Kosbar <chrispk -at- MERIT -dot- EDU>]

"Starr, Mike (MED)" wrote:

> My reply was a serious reply not meant to be rude at all. If I were to
> take a project for a client with Interleaf as the client's tool of
> choice then complain bitterly

Bitterly?  I thought it was meant to amuse.  I was amused.

> because I wasn't able to make it jump
> through hoops like I can with my own native tool, then someone else
> would be just as justified in saying the same sorts of things about me.
> Obviously, Jacque wasn't qualified to accept the project. I have
> absolutely no sympathy for someone in that kind of situation.

Why not?  You've never been a novice?  Jacque should only accept jobs in his
native program?  How will he learn new programs?

I use Word daily, and yes, can now force it to do what Frame, Page and Quark do
easily. (I had to use all four at my previous job, and WordPerfect to boot.)
But come on, Word is a word processor with a couple of layout features, not a
page-layout program.  We all get stuck using it because it is cheap.  But for
documentation, is it ever the best product? If money were no object, and you
could set the standard program that everyone would use, would it be Word?  Man,
if I could buy the world a documentation program for technical manuals to be
printed on paper, it'd be Frame.  But if you really like Word, good for you,
fortunate for you!


> If you
> expect me to substitute "kindness" for telling the truth about when
> someone misrepresents their abilities, don't hold your breath. Believe
> me, I wasn't even beginning to be unkind. Jacque deserved to be
> criticized.

Why do you assume Jacque misrepresented his abilities?  Maybe the client
preferred him despite his novice status with Word.  I had clients who knew I
was learning a program and still chose me because they knew I'd get it done on
time.

I thought the Ode was funny.

cpk


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