D&C GLug - Home Page

[ Date Index ] [ Thread Index ] [ <= Previous by date / thread ] [ Next by date / thread => ]

Re: [LUG] Bristol Council moving to StarOffice

 

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Tom Brough wrote:

> Please restrain you comments as you will not win over hearts and
> minds to free software model if you continue to accuse the very
> people you are trying to convert of being lazy. You are not doing
> the free software community any favours here ......

Hi Tom,

I would agree totally with that sentiment.  Having worked in a Tech
Support callcentre for about 6 years I can categorically say that the
customers who got exactly what they wanted and *no more* were the ones
who went out of their way to wind me up.  The ones who were polite got
the full bells & whistles including suggestions on regular
housekeeping tasks to keep their PCs running nicely etc.[1]  The
obnoxious customers did not help themselves by biting the hand trying
to feed them.  In the same vein as this, their "cause" was getting
their PC working, whereas the 'cause' here is to get people to migrate
to an Open Source solution.

My suggestion, rather than appear to attack with emotive words such as
'lazy', would be to use words that suggest helpfulness such as
'easier', as in 'You realise it would be much easier to do the same
thing if you used this instead?' which coincidentally happens to also
be a cheaper alternative.  Rather than make an enemy you get them on
your side and they easily buy into what you're saying.  Essentially
what you're doing is saying 'Hey look we want to do the same thing,
but I think I can make life easier for you.'

At the end of the day people are human and will always welcome
suggestions on how they can get more (money, time, etc) with less
(effort, expense, etc).

Kind regards,

Julian

[1]  To anyone who remembers my early days on here, I have since
resigned about a year ago due to management induced stress and now I'm
doing an HND at UWIC in Cardiff - hoping to top up to a degree :)
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://enigmail.mozdev.org

iD8DBQFD/6LLjs/5IBdCO1ERAij+AJ4xaeM83hhe9in1gCvTesiVyqNHBwCdFTvc
czTCB1aGZKRjjEDJnl4XC54=
=ohtM
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----


--
The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG
Mail majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe list" in the
message body to unsubscribe. FAQ: www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html