Fedora Desktop future- RedHat moves

[Les]

On Fri, 2008-04-25 at 04:12 +0930, Tim wrote:
> On Thu, 2008-04-24 at 10:49 -0500, Arthur Pemberton wrote:
> > For whatever reason, outlook users seem handicapped when it comes to
> > bottom posting. I have bottom posted a few times in replies to them
> > and they have simply not seen the message 
> 
> Yes, I've noticed that.  Especially if it's lengthy.  They seem
> incapable of looking at what's presented to them.  They seem even worse
> at handling interspersed responses.  My response to a variety of, shall
> we say "stupid people" lately, is to bluntly tell them to try reading
> what's in front of them, instead of complaining.
> 
> Before someone gets up in arms, I'm referring to a few things that have
> nothing to do with this list.  But the principle's the same.  Some just
> do not look.
> 
> I'm reminded of some of my denser classmates in primary school who
> "hated reading," and I still see people like that using computers today.
> One wonders why some deliberately choose to use computers, and programs
> that involve reading, when they do not like reading (by their own
> admission).
> 
> Maybe that's what Flash is for...  Ooh look, pictures...

I think some folks literally bought that "a picture is worth a thousand
words" line.

But there is yet another problem... Often we (and I include myself) do
not fully state the situation, as when we are familiar with the subject
and we assume (that dreaded word) that everyone else has equivalent
experience or knowledge.  In that case, what is said makes perfect sense
to the writer, but may mean nothing at all to the reader.  

My current case in point is the experience I just had with F8, where the
window for install options was upgrade, install with format in text or
graphic mode, but to do a clean install without formatting you had to
know to choose the option to review the partitioning scheme.  The ideal
place should have been on the install options window, with an install
without formatting option, or even a bit of clear text explaining how to
accomplish the install without formatting.  Without that, one would have
to find a particular bit of information on the web, when the means of
accessing the web is disabled.  Don't anyone get upset or anything
(unless I missed something on the install page, then you may politely or
impolitely tell me I missed it and where to look.  I'm a Navy Chief, so
you won't embarrass me I assure you.)

But reading and comprehension also assume that we all speak the same
language (maybe a safe assumption in some fields).  Here things are
visible world wide, and even if it is in plain sight in (choose your
native language) there will be people who do not understand, or worse
people who almost understand as in a little knowledge is dangerous.

This is tough stuff.  Educational video and the new immersive education
environments do have some edge in this stuff, and we can all hope that
one day we will all understand each other at least to socially
acceptable levels.

Regards,
Les H