[ale] Chinese government recommendation - Linux

[Don Kramer]

CNET 5/20/14: "China bans Windows 8 from government computers" -
http://www.cnet.com/news/china-bans-windows-8-from-government-computers/


On Mon, May 19, 2014 at 6:04 PM, Sean Kilpatrick <kilpatms at gmail.com> wrote:

>  I agree with Jim on this one; management is the key. Many decades ago,
> when I was a working journalist, I was employed by a newspaper making the
> shift in the newsroom from manual typewriters (and three-carbon sets) to
> OCR using IBM Selectric typewriters. The Underwoods and Royals had to go.
>
> I was part of the instructional team because I had significant experience
> with "cold type" as well as the hot lead then in use in the union print
> shop. The newsroom staffs of both the morning and afternoon papers were
>
> given about 10 hours of instruction spread out over several weeks ( with
> paid overtime.) Senior editors had to take the training as well.
>
> As a result of the training the moaning and groaning were kept to the
> absolute minimum -- even from Noah's grandsons working in the Sports Dept.
> :)
>
> Newspapers are in some ways a special case because the daily deadlines are
> absolute. Editors HAD to learn a whole new way of specifying type
> faces/sizes/ colm. widths, etc. And they had to learn it well enough to do
> it without constantly looking at a crib sheet. REporters had to learn new
> ways of doing somewhat trivial things -- like how to type a date.
>
> Because senior management realized the necessity for extensive training,
> and provided it without overly stressing the employees, the changeover was
> nearly seamless.
>
> As we all know, that level of skilled management is hard to find these
> days.
>
> Sean
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Monday, May 19, 2014 04:55:31 pm Jones, Donald wrote:
>
> > In discussing how "easy" or "hard" learning a new desk top, OS,
>
> > technology, etc. is, one element I think that has been overlooked is
>
> > TIME. Learning takes time and we all live very busy lives. When we
>
> > are busy in my organization, it is not unheard of to have 12 - 16
>
> > hours of work to do in a 8 hour day. Furthermore, when you get the
>
> > assignment, it was actually needed a week earlier. And if you think
>
> > that just because new tools have been introduced into the work
>
> > atmosphere (ei. new word processor, etc) means that you will get more
>
> > time to complete the task or even training on the new tools - that
>
> > usually isn't always the case. To get caught-up on how to save a file
>
> > or change the font for 15 minutes is a huge killer. My point is that
>
> > many people resist change because they often do not have the time
>
> > (real or perceived) to learn new skills to accomplish a task they
>
> > could already do with a previously learned skill set.
>
> >
>
> > For us technical people, learning a new skill/technology is a double
>
> > edge sword. We get the task done while learning new skills that add to
>
> > our skill set and marketability while having fun. For end users, it is
>
> > a single edge sword in that only a needed task has been completed.
>
> >
>
> > Donald
>
>
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-- 
Don Kramer
donkramer at gmail.com - email / 404-213-7738 - cell
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