5 ms·

Maybe I'm not reading it correctly, but it seems like a pretty simple issue to resolve by syncing outlook to gmail / google calendar along with an android phone

by xarien 15y ago

Maybe I'm not reading it correctly, but it seems like a pretty simple issue to resolve by syncing outlook to gmail / google calendar along with an android phone... The current email host should be set to forward to gmail and outlook repointed to gmail as well. If the user wants access to email offline, they can just enable POP. Syncing the calendar is even easier... It seems like he's more interested in working with his preferred tool set than the best tool set for the job.

eropple 15y ago
Thank you for illustrating his point so beautifully.
- xarien 15y ago
  Maybe I'm just being obtuse, but what exactly is his point? Since he's a developer, I can't imagine that a couple minutes on the web wouldn't net him a solution that'd work for his friend's father. Maybe it's just me, but I receive very high utility knowing that I help solve someone's problem which maximizes their utility as opposed to throwing my hands in the air because said solution may not agree with my own tastes.
  - sbuk 15y ago
    So why can't his friends father spend a couple minutes on the web to find a solution himself? Look, I know about computers, but I don't use Outlook or Android (which seems to be Arment's situation) so rather that wasting a couple of hours of both our lives, I'd tell the truth and say "I don't know about $SOFTWARE. Have you Googled it?" This does lead to another issue; most people don't know how to search. I have found that a quick Google tutorial is far more fruitful than a couple of hours spent trying to understand the individual workflow requirements and offer a fix around that; often having to use products and solutions that I know nothing about because that is what they use. "Give a man a net to fish with and he can feed himself." no pun intended.
TeMPOraL 15y ago
Except that syncing anything to Android phones is broken beyond repair (try syncing an repetitive task with hours specified, e.g. "Every Monday, 18:00-20:00" with Google Calendar app...), as will probably be many things on the way. The point (or at least, one of them) of the post is that sometimes user has constrains coming from his job, personality, or preferred mode of operations, that will make it impossible to use your particular preferred solution in that context. It takes some humility to notice that and not evangelize your particular working habits too much. Also, our technology is broken on that angle; things simply are not expected to work well with each other from the start.
- luriel 15y ago
  Syncing anything to anything seems to almost be invariably broken beyond repair, specially between products made by different companies. Interoperativity among syncing systems, even following the myriad of 'standards' for this seems to be hopeless. > Also, our technology is broken on that angle; things simply are not expected to work well with each other from the start. I think this is the core root of the problem, which it seems everyone in this discussion is ignoring. If Syncing was not so badly broken we wouldn't have this discussion to begin with (and same goes for most other common problems of this kind, this is simple stuff that should have worked without a hitch for ages).

by xarien 15y ago

eropple 15y ago

Thank you for illustrating his point so beautifully.

xarien 15y ago
Maybe I'm just being obtuse, but what exactly is his point? Since he's a developer, I can't imagine that a couple minutes on the web wouldn't net him a solution that'd work for his friend's father. Maybe it's just me, but I receive very high utility knowing that I help solve someone's problem which maximizes their utility as opposed to throwing my hands in the air because said solution may not agree with my own tastes.
- sbuk 15y ago
  So why can't his friends father spend a couple minutes on the web to find a solution himself? Look, I know about computers, but I don't use Outlook or Android (which seems to be Arment's situation) so rather that wasting a couple of hours of both our lives, I'd tell the truth and say "I don't know about $SOFTWARE. Have you Googled it?" This does lead to another issue; most people don't know how to search. I have found that a quick Google tutorial is far more fruitful than a couple of hours spent trying to understand the individual workflow requirements and offer a fix around that; often having to use products and solutions that I know nothing about because that is what they use. "Give a man a net to fish with and he can feed himself." no pun intended.

TeMPOraL 15y ago

Except that syncing anything to Android phones is broken beyond repair (try syncing an repetitive task with hours specified, e.g. "Every Monday, 18:00-20:00" with Google Calendar app...), as will probably be many things on the way. The point (or at least, one of them) of the post is that sometimes user has constrains coming from his job, personality, or preferred mode of operations, that will make it impossible to use your particular preferred solution in that context. It takes some humility to notice that and not evangelize your particular working habits too much. Also, our technology is broken on that angle; things simply are not expected to work well with each other from the start.

luriel 15y ago
Syncing anything to anything seems to almost be invariably broken beyond repair, specially between products made by different companies. Interoperativity among syncing systems, even following the myriad of 'standards' for this seems to be hopeless. > Also, our technology is broken on that angle; things simply are not expected to work well with each other from the start. I think this is the core root of the problem, which it seems everyone in this discussion is ignoring. If Syncing was not so badly broken we wouldn't have this discussion to begin with (and same goes for most other common problems of this kind, this is simple stuff that should have worked without a hitch for ages).