Re: [Groff] PDF printing coming

[Clarke Echols]

The biggest advantage I see in Unix/Linux et al operating systems
and the software that runs on them is this:  I am "enabled" in my
quest to do exactly what I want, exactly how I want to do it.
No exceptions (within the capabilities of the software in question).

My biggest objection to Windows operating systems and the software
that is available on them is:  I am "allowed" to do what somebody
else has decided to allow me to do, while ramming down my throat
the notion that they are too smart and I am too dumb to be able
to make decisions on how things ought to be done.  Never mind that
I have two decades of satisfactory experience using a "real"
computer.

In 1980 or 1981, I was in conversation with some product marketing
engineers at HP.  At the time, HP owned the term "desktop computer"
because nobody else made one.  The question being discussed was,
"Should we call our machines desktop computers or workstations?"
My response was, "HP should coin and copyright the term 'personal
computer' before somebody else does."  Six months later, IBM
announced their first "personal computer".

Several years later, I was conversing with my boss at HP when I
told him we should come out with a series of books "for dummies";
i.e., "HP-UX for Dummies", "Vi for Dummies", "Shell Programming
for Dummies", etc. [Usage rule: comma goes outside the closing
quote when you aren't writing conversational prose.   I know some
don't agree, but it makes more sense when parsing.]  He responded
that such a tactic would violate HP's image of the three-piece
business suit in respectable business circles.  How many
yellow-and-black books have you seen on the bookstore shelf
since that time?  I also suggest along with the "for Dummies"
title, an alternative: "Idiot's Guide to Shell Programming",
etc.  How many red and blue books have you seen whose titles start
with "Idiot's Guide..."? [Putting the quesition mark inside the
quotes would indicate the question mark is part of the title.]

Sheesh -- I really get tired of being right. :-)

In looking at the list of companies involved in the shift to PDF,
I see more of a very old problem:  Major corporations see as their
best prospect, a customer/consumer who is stupid, lazy, and
incapable of understanding alternatives, unable to compare competition,
and unwilling to exert the effort to become capable.  [This idea
was presented by Mark Walsh, CEO of VerticalNet at the time, in
a presentation to a group of business students at the University of
Colorado in 2001 as part of their lecture series, "Profiles in
American Enterprise" featuring various corporate CEOs, that was
shown on the Research Channel TV and is still available at the
Research Channel website.  It is an interesting study in the boom
and bust of the dot-com road to infinite wealth fiasco earlier in
this decade.

I recently updated a presentation someone else created in PowerPoint
by using groff and PS.  The file size went from 12 Mbytes to 120
Kbytes.  The style was crisper because I could control *exactly*
what appeared on the screen *exactly* where I wanted it.  Yes, it
was a pain to produce, but very effective, and justifiable if it
is intended for more than a single presentation.

Besides, it didn't put one cent in Bill Gates and company's pocket.
I'm too cheap to spend big bucks just to get PowerPoint.  I haven't
checked, but perhaps there's some equivalent now available for Linux
or Cygwin?

"Domination of the capable by the challenged" is brilliant, and
demonstrated over and over by history in its ability to bring down
the great civilizations of the world from Babylon to Egypt to Greece
to Rome.  Is the USA next?  I fear it might be when "political
correctness" ceaselessly overrides common sense.  It was largely my
unwillingness to bow to political correctness that led to my
leaving HP six years ago.  It is also a major factor in the inability
of large corporations to be "smart".  Common sense and the
entrepreneurial instinct cannot be learned in MBA school because
nobody is teaching them to MBA kids who have never encountered
much of either in our decaying "educational" system.

Clarke "Just an old coot who doesn't want to chang
        something good for something worse" Echols :-)

[My wife says I'm neither outspoken nor opinionated.  Sorry about
the rant, but Ted got me going. :-))  Great job, Ted! ]

(Ted Harding) wrote:
> On 21-Apr-06 Peter Schaffter wrote:
> > Ted --
> >
> > On Fri, Apr 21, 2006, Ted Harding wrote:
> > > I harbour fears that this proposed move towards PDF as the
> > > standard indicates an impending domination of the capable
> > > by the challenged.
> > Is "domination of the capable by the challenged" your own phrase?
> > It's terrific, and I'd like to be able to attribute it properly.
>
> Well, I suppose it is, since I wrote it spontaneously! But that's
> not to say that someone else may not have used it before -- it's
> a situation that needs a phrase!
>
> All best wishes,
> Ted.
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <address@hidden>
> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861
> Date: 21-Apr-06                                       Time: 16:13:11
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