J
J. P. Gilliver (John)
I second that view.
certainly need _something_ of the sort right from the start, so one has
to be there.
Wordpad - interesting question; I haven't looked at the version that
comes with 7, but assuming it's not got _worse_, it probably would
satisfy the needs of the low and moderate user - and yet, throughout XP,
Vista, and 7 (and back into '9x), I don't think I know _anybody_ who
hasn't loaded something else (usually Word, occasionally WordPerfect,
sometimes the free Office suites), so the argument that it shouldn't be
there at all is less strong. I think WordPad gives a good flavour of
what might be possible with a word processor, and as such is worth them
including.
Calculator - more than most people need, and those who do need more, I
suspect are savvy enough to go find something. I can't see any harm in
_that_ being included.Backup - you _could_ have a point there. It _could_ be argued (I'm not
doing so) that you don't need a backup facility from the start ("get-go"
for USians), and thus people should choose.But Mail is quite a complex thing, and unlike the others we've discussed
requires some setting up with the mail provider (sever names, passwords,
and so on). Thus providing one, as was done with OE and perhaps whatever
Vista has, encourages their use (obviously), so there's not only Ken's
point about people not realising there _are_ alternatives, but also
there's the difficulty of transferring - settings and accumulated mails
- should they later decide to try something else. (_Most_ of the
alternatives offer to "import" settings, emails, etc. from whatever is
the default on the systems they're being installed under, but not all,
and also IME this isn't an error-free process.)IMO, they should provide a "choose email client" window, much as they do
for browsers - or is that only in EU, and you've not seen it? Rather
than not mentioning the subject at all!I agree with both of you. Though I think for a beginner, OE was/is easy
to understand, and there was at least almost universal support for it,
which had its advantages. (I'd always install OE-quotefix fairly soon to
go with it, though.)
(a) you don't have to _use_ the bits you're not interested in, (b) any
PC capable of running 7 won't worry about TB's requirements, (c) support
is pretty widespread. FWIW, I have an elderly gentleman who moved from
OE (on a 98SElite machine! Dialup!), to a Vista laptop his daughter
passed on to him: we tried using what came with Vista, and he didn't get
on with it at all (still dialup), and we have now moved to Thunderbird
(admittedly at the same time as going to broadband which does make
things easier), and he's getting on OK with it. But YMMV.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf
The reason for the oil shortage: nobody remembered to check the oil levels. Our
oil is located in the North Sea but our dip-sticks are located in Westminster.
(or Texas and Washington etc. - adjust as necessary!)
Explorer - difficult one, that; _arguably_ part of the OS, and you
certainly need _something_ of the sort right from the start, so one has
to be there.
Wordpad - interesting question; I haven't looked at the version that
comes with 7, but assuming it's not got _worse_, it probably would
satisfy the needs of the low and moderate user - and yet, throughout XP,
Vista, and 7 (and back into '9x), I don't think I know _anybody_ who
hasn't loaded something else (usually Word, occasionally WordPerfect,
sometimes the free Office suites), so the argument that it shouldn't be
there at all is less strong. I think WordPad gives a good flavour of
what might be possible with a word processor, and as such is worth them
including.
Calculator - more than most people need, and those who do need more, I
suspect are savvy enough to go find something. I can't see any harm in
_that_ being included.Backup - you _could_ have a point there. It _could_ be argued (I'm not
doing so) that you don't need a backup facility from the start ("get-go"
for USians), and thus people should choose.But Mail is quite a complex thing, and unlike the others we've discussed
requires some setting up with the mail provider (sever names, passwords,
and so on). Thus providing one, as was done with OE and perhaps whatever
Vista has, encourages their use (obviously), so there's not only Ken's
point about people not realising there _are_ alternatives, but also
there's the difficulty of transferring - settings and accumulated mails
- should they later decide to try something else. (_Most_ of the
alternatives offer to "import" settings, emails, etc. from whatever is
the default on the systems they're being installed under, but not all,
and also IME this isn't an error-free process.)IMO, they should provide a "choose email client" window, much as they do
for browsers - or is that only in EU, and you've not seen it? Rather
than not mentioning the subject at all!I agree with both of you. Though I think for a beginner, OE was/is easy
to understand, and there was at least almost universal support for it,
which had its advantages. (I'd always install OE-quotefix fairly soon to
go with it, though.)
Personally, I'd say Thunderbird _is_ a fair choice: it may be big, but
(a) you don't have to _use_ the bits you're not interested in, (b) any
PC capable of running 7 won't worry about TB's requirements, (c) support
is pretty widespread. FWIW, I have an elderly gentleman who moved from
OE (on a 98SElite machine! Dialup!), to a Vista laptop his daughter
passed on to him: we tried using what came with Vista, and he didn't get
on with it at all (still dialup), and we have now moved to Thunderbird
(admittedly at the same time as going to broadband which does make
things easier), and he's getting on OK with it. But YMMV.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf
The reason for the oil shortage: nobody remembered to check the oil levels. Our
oil is located in the North Sea but our dip-sticks are located in Westminster.
(or Texas and Washington etc. - adjust as necessary!)
