March 5, 2002 #141a Readers respond to: The P in PC stands for Plague We are all fortunate to have readers who pick-up-on and immediately respond to issues in the 60-Second Window column that could be construed as harmful, rude, or inappropriate for our editorial standards. And when I make a mistake, or I chose the wrong words, I hope readers will write and let me know! I wish to thank all who wrote regarding this month's column, and in the interest of community exchange of ideas and opinions I print herein two selected posts from today's mail: L.B. from Edmonton, Alberta Canada writes to say: Fred, with all due respect, I can only assume, (and hope) that your recent comment in "60-Second Window" - refered to ALL users of Personal Computers, whether they be Unix, Windows or Mac O/S. Let me quote what you said - "PC users with huge vacant lots between their ears". __ As an instructor in a reasonably successful Graphic Communications Program, with a curriculum driven by industry, our objective is to prepare our students for employment. That includes the ability to work on both platforms. It does not help to have you publish remarks such as that, which may be easily misconstrued by those who read your material. Material which, I might add, I recommend enthusiastically to my students. __ Would you be good enough to clarify your comment, please? __ If indeed that was an attack on PC (windows)O/S, then I think it was quite unfortunate and less than I have come to expect from you. If on the other hand, your comment was directed to Computer users in general, I can only agree. __ However, any manuals I have looked over, usually indicate that file size is an important issue - and normally recommend an appropriate resolution and format. You can hardly blame the software maker if the user can't be bothered to read the book? Fred Says: Thank you very much L.B. for your candor, and for caring enough to take the time to write. ___ As you can see from my addendum posted to the article today, (March 5, 2001) I have clarified my somewhat harsh reference to read: "The problem is there are hundreds of thousands of computer users with huge vacant lots between their ears. They actually believe their email recipients just adore getting bloated, miss-coded html mail that looks bad and loads slow. " ___ And, yes, I mean it to be a wake-up call -- strong enough for those to whom I am referring. But NO, I do not mean "all" computer users, nor am I singling out any particular operating system or platform. ___ In respects to "Hundreds of Thousands" in ratio to the millions of email users -- judging from the amount of mail in our mail bag each month, the ratio is running nearly 30% who use html mail. This indicates they intentionally have used html mail, or that they have left their email client at its default settings, not bothering to consider turning it off, or learning how to turn it off. In nearly every situation where the sender is someone I have to communicate with on an ongoing basis, I have suggested turning off html -- and 100% of them have asked how. The majority of them did not know their mail was coded. ___ No, I cannot blame the software maker for those who do not read and learn how to behave. However, I can blame them for their default settings. Just as the case with America Online -- shipping their software with ALL settings wide open, and Parental Control OFF -- software manufacturers have a reason for shipping their software with default settings. And these default settings will almost assuredly be set to the benefit of the manufacturer, NOT the benefit of the community. ___ Please teach this lesson to your students: software manufacturers have but one goal -- to sell software. And in most cases, in order to continue in business they must sell upgrades, and continue to expand their market share. To this end they continually add "sellable" features and strongly promote those features which could be perceived by the market as being 'better' than their competitors. These features are not always in the best interest of the computer using community, nor the industry at large. So one should look at the way the software is configured, and then change any settings that could contribute to the betterment of the community. More on this later. C.M. from Westerville, OH, USA wrote in to say: In reference to your 60-Second Window #141 You know, I am an intelligent woman. And I am a graphic designer. And I enjoy and use the content and services provided on this site. But I get so tired of Mac people bashing PC people, and vice-versa. I use a PC every day, and it's a *tool*. And yes, I agree that there are quite a few PC users out there that don't understand a lot about bandwidth and the rules of typography and so on, but aren't we knowledgable people here to help educate? ___ Not to mention the fact that I simply cannot believe that *every* Mac user is totally competent and would *never* do such hideous things as PC people. I expect these types of comments from the uneducated, but when someone who is so involved in the design world and whom I admire so much starts throwing around that kind of thing it just makes me sad. ___ Whether it was your intention or not, you must realize that by alienating the part of your loyal audience who happen to be PC users (be we perhaps not many) you are doing much more damage than good. Please just consider my point. Respectfully, C.M. Graphic Designer Fred says: Thank you very much C.M. for taking the time to write. ___ Hopefully my note to L.B. above has addressed some of your concerns -- and that it was NOT a slight on any particular platform or operating system. ___ Alienating any of our readers or participants was the very last thing the article was intended to do. I can only hope that everyone understands the column in the spirit it was intended, and then helps others learn ways to improve the computing experience for everyone. ___ While the article has "PC" in the headline, you'll note my accusation that "Both Apple and Microsoft have brought another plague on the world's bandwidth: "You've got Pictures!" making it way too easy to click 'Send.' " ___ It is not a condemnation of users of either platform because it's a platform. It has to do with use, and the user no matter what platform they use. In my own defense: I agonize over each and every 60-Second Window. I torture myself to select just the right words that both reflect my feelings, being true to myself, and that express the urgency or importance of the subject of that torment. Alas, sometimes even after many rewrites I step on some people's toes. ___ 60-Second Windows is an editorial column. It's where I express my own opinions about a given topic or issue. I can only hope that I've chosen the side of the issue that is right for the greatest good, and that a majority of my readers will either agree with my position, or will stand up and speak out to convince me that I'm wrong. That's what this editorial is all about. ___ I firmly believe, and stick to my position that the unrestrained sending of pictures in email, without considering the media, the message and the reader is no better than me sending you a fat package in the postal service with all of the postage due. ___ Remember that in most respects the arena of email puts the time and cost of delivery on the recipient. It has always been considered good online etiquette on the part of the sender to minimize the burden of delivery as much as possible -- and I believe that's still the case. So unnecessary html coding, and the inclusion of uninvited images is contrary to that ideal. Please see: "How NOT to send photos in email" Again, thank you all for writing -- and by all means understand that you are encouraged to write any time you feel you would like to have your voice heard. It's the only way we learn to temper our understanding of the world around us. regards and good day to all

Fred Showker is a designer, consultant, writer and speaker. He has published 60-Second Window and DT&G Magazine online since 1990, and is director of The Graphic Design Network which includes The Design & Publishing Center at www.Graphic-Design.com. (1994) He was a co-founder of both The User Group Forum on America Online (1987), The User Group Network at www.User-Groups.net, (1994) and the Designers' Bookshelf (1996) He originally founded Showker Graphic Arts & Design in 1972, has been an avid computer activist and supporter since 1984. Got Comments??? back to the 60-Second Window Index, 60-Second Lobby . . . or: The Design & Publishing Center. / . The User Group Network. / . Design University. / . The Designers' Bookshelf. / Would you like to carry the 60-Second Windows column in your newsletter or web site? Ask us about our syndication program... join hundreds of others who now publish 60-Second Windows! Thank you for visiting http://www.60-second.com/ DT&G: The Electronic Journal for Design, Typography & Graphics c/o Showker Graphic Arts 15 SouthGate, Harrisonburg, VA 22801 TAD, Voice, FAX: (540) 433-8402 Thank you for visiting 60-second.com, graphic-design.com, user-groups.net, and all of the sites including The Design & Publishing Center, The User Group Network, The Graphic Design Network. We bring you 100% spam-free content for designers, illustrators, publishers, photographers, and visual graphics arts professionals from all corners of the world. http://www.graphic-design.com/DTG/ -- Contents Copyright (c) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001. 60-Second Window is trademark, copyrighted since 1990. DT&G Magazine, and The Design & Publishing Center invite you to visit Photoshop Tips & Tricks at: http://www.graphic-design.com/photoshop/. Reproduction or reuse of parts or all of this manuscript without prior written permission is expressly forbidden.

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