MS Office intro; Office 2003 for $20

[Bill Horne]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bob Keyes" <bob at sinister.com>
>
> On Mon, 22 Sep 2003, Jerry Feldman wrote:
>
> > On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 21:17:12 -0400
> > "Bill Horne" <bill at horne.net> wrote:
> >
> > > For the benefit, or amusement of, BLU members, as the case may be.
> > >
> >
> > We host BizProd on the BLU server. It is one of Arnold Bilansky's
> > groups.
>
> OK, why should we be interested in shoddy software that we can't run
> anyhow? I suppose twenty bux is a good discount off the normal price, but
> I'd value not having to sit through some seminar and be brainwashed.

Software standards vary from company to company, and most US corporations
have standardized on the Office suite, since using it minimizes their
retraining costs for new hires and since it gives a de facto standard for
intercompany transfer of electronic documents.

Although those of us who are "in the trenches" might have a different
perspective, corporate managers have to look to the bottom line: human costs
far outweigh the inconvenience of an occasional BSOD, no matter how good we
feel the alternatives are, or how eagerly we demand that our bosses spend
the money needed to retrain the employees, negotiate change/patch support,
establish change control, reequip labs as needed, and convert the software.

Whatever my personal feelings about Microsoft and its marketing, I must be
realistic: knowing Access and Excel and Word is a salable skill, in the same
way that knowing there are alternatives is also a salable skill.

As to "having to sit through some seminar", I don't think they will force
attendees to remain in their seat should they choose to leave.  Of course,
you know your mind better than I, so I'll only say that brainwashing me
would take longer than one and one-half hours.

Bill Horne
781 784-7287