2005-08-17 06:15:38.996606+00 by meuon 8 comments
Just an 'Aaaarrrghhh!' - working with a client that prints a web page, circles one missing period, scans the whole page into a PDF and e-mails it to me. Instead of 'Hey dummy, you missed a period on page: ____'. Sure, we've gotten much more efficient with all this technology, haven't we?
[ related topics: Work, productivity and environment ]
comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):
#Comment Re: made: 2005-08-17 14:04:11.30689+00 by: petronius
Ya wanna bet that your client printed out the page before they even looked at it, so that they could read the hard copy instead of onscreen?
#Comment Re: made: 2005-08-17 14:54:16.301198+00 by: flushy
I've actually printed out hard copies of web pages for people to edit with a pen, and hand back to me. Especially people that appear to use a computer with one finger, one arm, and blind folded.
They come up with strange, new, and interesting names for things on the screen.
#Comment Re: made: 2005-08-17 15:10:26.907974+00 by: Diane Reese
Honestly, if I have to follow a long laundry-list of manual instructions on a webpage, I print the darned thing out and keep it next to me while I follow them, rather than swapping back and forth between two windows and trying to keep straight where I am in the process.
But yeah... the PDF-ifying is going a bit far, I do agree.
#Comment Re: made: 2005-08-17 17:01:33.309242+00 by: Mars Saxman
my office, at least, is pretty much paperless; I have no printing technology more sophisticated than a mont-blanc pen. My boss sent an email today reminding me about some investor tax disclosure form he wanted me to fill out last month. I'd sign it with the paintbrush tool in Photoshop, but they need a hard copy... so I will have to upload the PDF to my web server, go rent a computer at Kinko's, download and print the damned thing, and then actually mail it in with a real envelope and some stamps. What a pain in the ass. Get with the program, technologically benighted planet - why can't I just type in the information and sign the thing with my private key? That's what dual-key encryption is for...
#Comment Re: made: 2005-08-18 15:59:33.915361+00 by: petronius
I suppose private-key encryption is the way to go, but with new worms and viruses (virii?) in the news each week, a certain skepticism still obtains. Is PKE solid enough to convince a jury?
Slightly off target, when I see Japanese movies sometimes there is considerable action involving finding a dead person's signature seal so the crook can raid his bank account. I've seen Japanese using these seals to sign their traveler's checks. How secure are these things? Strikes me that they would be easier to fake than an ink signature.
#Comment Re: made: 2005-08-18 21:07:42.527787+00 by: meuon
I saw was a pen that supposedly had the person's (Mr. Gadget Gomberg) DNA in the ink.. but it'd take a majorly expensive messup to cost justify the lab expense to verify the signature was made with that pen. PKE works for smart people, but for most people, they have no clue how to use it or why.
#Comment Re: made: 2005-08-19 14:37:09.674882+00 by: petronius
The DNA idea is nice. I understand that every "authentic" picture from Thomas KInkade, The Painter of Light(c), is signed by an Autopen, but marked with a sample of DNA. Since his limited editions number in the many thousands, This is the only way to guarantee that you get the real thing. Whatever that means.
#Comment Re: made: 2005-08-19 16:43:38.748576+00 by: Mars Saxman
Ahh, hmm, I didn't realize that "Thomas Kinkade" was an actual person; I thought it was just a brand name, made up by the company that runs the little stores.