Well, I'm seeing a lot of heel-digging-in on both sides of the issue. What I think Hawkmoon and I are saying is:
1. Software changes for the sake of "latest and greatest" marketing opportunites drive a lot of this "software upgrade" stuff, and many of us are suckered into defending it like a Ford owner defending his choice against a Chevy owner.
2. Many, if not all, of these upgrades and enhanced functionalities can just as easily be accessed by the old methods (plain old drop-down lists) as by the new methods (the ribbon), but the main justification for the ribbon is... you guessed it... marketing.
3. Many of us do not want to take a segment of time out of our work flow just to learn a new latest and greatest cutting edge system. While the advantages of a new system may become apparent over time, I gotta get stuff out this week, not next week.
I think that's all that Hawkmoon (and I) were trying to convey. Neither of us are involved in IT on a day to day basis, which is why I wisecracked about IT folks being disqualified from commenting on this thread. So, yes, we end up being "five generations of 'advances' behind," and we have to wonder why some of these "advances" (like the ribbon) were made.
Then, later, as Ben remarked, we quite legitimately distrust a few things... like the cloud, as he eloguently pointed out.
I like things on my machine, not "their" machines, so no matter what happens, I've still got "my" things.
So guess what? My good ole Dell Vostro with XP and C, D, and E hard drives, has never been connected to the net.
And I'm happy with that. So go, enjoy taking a week out of productivity to struggle with new, latest and greatest, cutting edge stuff. Fine. I'll catch up to you sooner or later. In the meantime, I'll keep cranking out stuff I have to crank out now. Not in a week.
And that's a legitimate complaint, too.
Terry
