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Subject:RE: in search for better tools From:Chris Despopoulos <despopoulos_chriss -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:06:06 -0800 (PST)
This is a cute statement, but it unfortunately inspired me to kick at this horse myself. Long after the crowd has dispersed, I suspect.
The most valid point I saw in the whole discussion is that the web statistics analogy is false. I agree. I don't know where that analogy came from. If MadCap vouches for it, then they are spreading false expectations. We live in a world where a power tool company can get sued because somebody put too large a disk on a disk grinder, centrifugal force caused the disk to break, and the user got hurt. The user had to modify the grinder (remove the spark shield) and ignore copious warnings to do it. But the user prevailed in court. If I took a liability over using this feature, and I had reason to believe it was no different than a web site collecting statistics, you bet I'd be mad to learn that was not the case. I would definitely try to recoup my damages.
Sharon, if the analogy is your own, then maybe you should take the point and re-think how you discuss the issue. If it's just an inside analogy but not officially promulgated by the company, then as a good citizen maybe you could help set the internal community straight, and get them to think in other terms. As Rush Limbaugh once said, "Words mean things."
As for the feature itself, it's just more technology. Use it or not, depending on whether it suits your needs. I guess it's smart to understand technology before you uuse it, but that would fly in the face of history, wouldn't it?
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Maybe Sharon can put in a request that any user named Robert Lauriston
be programmatically prevented (for his own protection) from installing
Flare. To the same end, I vote we put explicit warnings on hammers
regarding their unsuitability for putting in contacts.
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