Technical Pain Feedback

By James Gaskin, NetworkWorld.com, 05/23/06

Let's all do our Bill Clinton impression (thumb up, bite lower lip) and say, "I feel your technical pain." OK, a slight modification of the typical Saturday Night Live impression, but that's how I felt after getting e-mails about my
Sidestepping Technical Pain column. Some readers even offered the steps they've taken to help ease their own pain.

Reader Cherev said I didn't go far enough when I recommended Firefox in place of Microsoft's Internet Explorer and should have told people about Thunderbird. The same people who eliminated so much of the IE browser pain did a similar job for e-mail clients. I have mentioned that before, and will again before long, I promise.

Faithful Reader Milan in New Zealand suggests Opera as his browser of choice. The fact that it includes e-mail sidesteps that much more pain for him. I haven't tested Opera in a while, so I will soon and let you know what I think. Feel free to follow Milan's advice and try it yourself and tell me what you think.

Several people reduced their technical pain considerably by switching to Linux from Microsoft Windows. Cherev suggested going to NewEgg for Novell's SuSE 10 desktop. Check CDW and TigerDirect as well for SuSE and Xandros and Linspire and Red Hat.

If you're just curious and want to invest from zero to $5, check out Non-technical desktop Linux listings and
Leading distributions from LWN.net, a long-time source of Linux information. If you prefer getting CDs in the mail, check out the aptly named EasyLinuxCDs site.

I promise this didn't start out to be a diatribe about replacing Windows with a Linux operating system. Linux isn't for everyone, but many casual PC users could surf more and struggle less if they changed.

Envelopes seem a particular point of pain for many. Anyone have a way to print envelopes they love? If so, will you share? Heck, I'll even listen to vendor pitches for this.

Usually some Macintosh fans jump in when pain and Microsoft appear in the same column. Where are you people? I didn't hear from one of you. Odd.

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Comments

I'm not wild about printing envelopes since I got a label printer. But when I do I use(Office 2003) Word.
Click on Tools,letters and mailings,envelopes & labels. It's important to preview to be sure your return address is in the right spot and same for the address. Its a good idea to add bar code since it makes the letter " machinable" in postal parlance,faster in laymans terms. Be certain of the proper feed position into the printer and you are all set.

Posted by: Scott on May 25, 2006 11:44 PM

I know all that - but can you reliably go and print one envelope a week faster than you can do it by hand or on a typewriter?

James

Posted by: James Gaskin on May 26, 2006 01:26 PM