Date: Sat, 13 Apr 2002 16:34:02 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at keithlynch.net>
To: WSFAlist at keithlynch.net
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Netiquette
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

"Michael Walsh" <MJW at mail.press.jhu.edu> wrote:

> In the April issue of Asimovs (http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0204/Ref.html)
> Silverbob writes:
> "... I am writing this right now on a quite functional 1991 computer
> ... The word-processing program I use is the same one I've been using
> since 1982, ... so old that it's incompatible with any program used
> by anybody else.  Which is all okay by me: my professional needs are
> met, I have lost the desire to master a lot of complex new gadgetary
> skills, and so be it."

Good for him.  Why should anyone be forced to keep buying new things
and learning new skills if they don't provide any actual improvement
in doing the task?  It's not as if his typing speed would be any
faster if he replaced his 5 MHz PC with a 500 MHz PC.  Indeed, it
would be slower until he fully learned the gratuitous incompatibilies
in word processor commands, keyboard layout, etc.

I'm all for true progress, but not for random incompatible changes.

Ted White <tedwhite at compusnet.com> wrote:

> In this modern era of publishing, working on an incompatible system
> means he has to turn in *paper copy* rather than a floppy or an
> emailed file.  I bet that goes over big with his publishers --
> someone has to *retype* his mss, with the opportunity to introduce
> many new typos and errors....

Not if his publishers have any sense.  If they don't have a system on
hand which can read and convert his diskettes, they certainly know of
a nearby firm which specializes in converting "obsolete" formats.
--
Keith F. Lynch - kfl at keithlynch.net - http://keithlynch.net/
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