atw: Re: File paths
- From: "Christine Kent" <c.bkent@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:38:17 +1000
Paul
You missed my audience definition. Maybe it wasn't clear.
A training laboratory or a home computer have different demands from a
corporate workplace. Your conclusion is valid for corporate workplaces
only.
My task here is to identify an idiot proof system with a 5-10 year life
expectancy (which is how long our books last), that suits teachers in
government and private organisations, with on-site and off-site students, of
varying levels of innate brain power and prior computer knowledge. Their
needs are different from those of Shell or BHP.
Working from home, I save to my hard disk, do a synchronised backup to one
of two external disks (the second lives in my car and gets swapped with the
attached drive whenever I remember) and I have a second synchronised backup
to on-line storage.
But "normal folks" don't much care about all this. They store their photos
on-line, and backup their music however their particular music program tells
them to back it up. They keep their keys and logins for software they have
bought off the web so they can download again at will, but mostly they use
free stuff. And when they lose the lot, they accept that computers are the
much hated and misunderstood love of their lives, and start again. Their
world is quite different from ours, and at the moment it is moving very
fast.
Christine
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Paul Brice
Sent: Monday, 22 September 2008 5:39 PM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Re: File paths
You should never save anything to a local hard drive - not if you value it
at all. Most workplaces provide network storage and with external hard
drives of gargantuan capacity costing microscopic dollars, there's no reason
to entrust anything to a local drive.
Anyone who's suffered a Windows breakage or complete hard drive failure will
know what a drama data loss can be. At the very least you should back up to
an external source.
On Mon, Sep 22, 2008 at 4:35 PM, Kathy Bowman
<Kathy.Bowman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I must have been dreaming I was at home...
I use My Documents on my home PC, but at work I always use folders on a
network drive, because they are backed up and secure.
Kath
_____
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Bob Trussler
Sent: Monday, 22 September 2008 2:49 PM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Re: File paths
Dear Dinosaur,
I too, am finding the new world order a bit strange at times.
In the Government workplaces, My Documents is frowned upon. This is because
it is on the C drive and therefore
. not backed up,
. if the PC crashes all is lost.
. it is not considered secure.
Users there must store their documents in the network on either a personal
drive or in the shared drive for their project or team.
Do your baby dinos realise that they can make (or create if they are gods)
lots of sub-folders under My Documents, so that they have more than just My
Music and My Pictures.
Bob Trusslersaur
2008/9/22 Christine Kent <christine_kent@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Guys
Another seemingly odd question relating to the new world order of Microsoft
as it relates to base entry level computer users and how they work with
files.
This time, file structure.
As old timers, we create our own files structures under c:\ - or at least I
do.
As corporate workers, we create files structures according to some corporate
specification on some network drive or other, or in some DMS.
But for the computer sub-literate, the Windows XP world of folders starts
with Documents and Settings, My Documents, and the Vista world of folders
starts with Users, Documents etc. They happily access these from the Start
Menu, ever using a window called Windows Explorer.
The real world - that is, users of home computers and people training in or
being trained by our low level education system - only understand/s My
Documents or Users. They have no idea they can pick a location on C:\
drive, or that these mythical User or Documents structures are actually on
C:\ drive somewhere. They feel clever if they learn to put a folder under
My Documents.
My overlapping questions.
Are techos in corporate starting to use the Microsoft system to define user
profiles?
Is the world generally adapting to the Microsoft virtual view of their
virtual universe?
Are you using Documents on your home computer?
Are your kids using Documents on their home or school computers?
Up until now I have always taught people to use C:\ drive. Am I being a
dinosaur?
Christine
--
Bob Trussler
Phone 0418 661 462
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