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Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2009 20:02:47 -0800
From: Andrew Sharp <andy.sharp@onstor.com>
To: Jonathan Goldick <jonathan.goldick@onstor.com>
Subject: Re: tuxrx document
Message-ID: <20090113200247.3b404c80@ripper.onstor.net>
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On Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:16:37 -0800 Jonathan Goldick
<jonathan.goldick@onstor.com> wrote:

> I try to start with logical arguments just as I did with MS Project.
> When it gets religious, as every Microsoft tool seems to be, I
> consider the rank argument the last resort against that religion.  I
> know you hate Microsoft and are happy to swim upstream but once in a
> while it would be refreshing if you first considered how your
> alternative impacts the rest of us, rather than forcing me to make
> arguments you find acceptably compelling.

=46rom my point of view, it seems to become religious for you, not me,
when it gets to Microsoft.  What I think benefits the company is not to
be beholden to a non-open format that then costs us huge amounts of
money, which Project, Office and Exchange certainly do.  I think it's a
worthwhile effort to try and get away from that, because if no effort
is made, no results will be forthcoming.  Results aren't guaranteed
just because an effort made, but in my mind it's worth the extra
effort.  I consider it the "good fight" even if it is largely comprised
of retreats.

> Didn't you wonder why no one else wrote any feedback on TuxRX?  Did
> you really think it was because the first draft was without flaw or
> that going your own way without regard to how we did all the other
> documents had an impact?

Well, other people did write feedback.  PDF didn't hold you back when
it came to making some comments, nor would it anyone else.  It doesn't
satisfy all your requirements, however.  I got that the first time you
talked to me about it.  If you hadn't hit me over the head with it
today, I'm pretty certain you would have gotten your word file
without ... well ... another word.

> Not being able to edit a doc file and add comments in a changed
> tracking form, like we did for all of the other function reviews, has
> an impact.  Not being able to easily see the differences between
> revisions of a document has an impact.  Note that by easily I mean
> how the team does its work, not how they can be trained to log into
> Linux and run a tool that they had previously never tried.  Consider
> the level of written feedback on even the minor functional specs in
> the last couple of months and then the absence of review comments on
> your document. =20

You already made your point, no need to beat it to death.

> This is an important project, one on which two senior engineers are
> engaged in full time, and I personally believe that getting active
> participation from others will greatly reduce the surprise factor of
> something you didn't think of.  I would hope that getting that
> feedback would be a priority to you, not a pointless exercise in
> document writing that you consider some hoop I make the team jump
> through.

This last part would seem to be off-subject, and something I've already
covered in conversation where I feel I made it clear that I'm a
believer in the value of doing this.  That said, I worry that the head
count in Dev is so low that we don't have critical mass when it comes to
getting the benefit that you refer to and that I'm desperately hoping
for.

>=20
>=20
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Andy Sharp=20
> Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2009 3:21 PM
> To: Jonathan Goldick
> Subject: tuxrx document
>=20
> Jon,
>=20
> Couple of things.  One, I only discovered after I sent the first draft
> out that there was some kind of mistake that caused what should have
> been the first two pages to be broken up into something like 5 pages.
> That's been fixed.  Also, the table of contents works as you require:
> you should be able to click on the individual items and be taken to
> that page.  It works that way on xpdf 3.01 on Linux from 2005, and it
> works on whatever strange PDF reader that comes on the Mac.  I think
> the 6 pages of unnecessary clutter up front made it annoying to get to
> where you wanted -- hopefully that's been alleviated somewhat.
>=20
> As for your other requirement, world editable, I will get you what you
> need. If that means I have to export it to Word, then that's what I'll
> do.  As you know, I would prefer some kind of open platform solution,
> but if there isn't one that is acceptable then there isn't.  The
> quality of the exported word document from this software isn't all
> that reliable, which is one of the reasons that I would generally try
> not to go there.
>=20
> As for pulling rank, as you are well aware, when it comes to me, I
> would normally prefer a logical, technical, business or marketing
> reason over "do as I command."  I trust that doesn't bother you too
> much.  I'm sure you understand and possibly you feel the same way
> yourself on occassion.
>=20
> Cheers,
>=20
> a
