Learning (was: Licence on two computers....)

Tech-Archive recommends: Repair Windows Errors & Optimize Windows Performance

(synopsis:
OP asked if Office Standard 2007 could be installed on his/her two
computers. Several of the early responses, mine included, referred the OP
to read the EULA for the software. Several posters took umbrage to this
advice, asking why no one would just give OP a straight answer.)

In addition to the well written response that there are several various
versions of the license for many of the versions of Office, depending on how
the license was obtained, on what the OP meant by "two computers", I'd like
to share my rationale.

First of all, as noted, OP did not provide sufficient information for anyone
to give a definitive answer.

Secondly, I (and I would guess a good number of other regular posters here)
do get a little tired of the "drive by questions", where someone drops in,
posts a question, maybe waits around long enough to get an answer, and is
gone. Did they bother to search the past posts on the newsgroup? Did they
Google or ask.com or yahoo the question? Did they even look at the Help
feature in the program? A large number of posts are repeats of previous
questions, asked and answered time and time again, sometimes multiple times
in a day! We all want to feel unique, that are problems are new and
special, but that's generally not the case.

Third, as a teacher, I don't generally answer a question with a direct
reply. That seems contradictory to my role, but let me explain. When a
student comes to me and says they are having trouble with such and such, I
ask them what they've already done to find the answer. Did they review
their notes? Did they (heaven forbid) read the textbook? Did they examine
the sample files that are provided? If they claim to have done all these
things and are still perplexed, then I point them to the pertinent text,
samples, and ask them how that might apply to their present problem. I
create new examples, that might better point out the concept or technique.
But in all this, I'm trying to lead the student to discover their own
answer, and to better learn how to find their answers in the future.

On the other hand, I've answered many questions on this and other newsgroups
in a direct manner. When the question is odd, obtuse, perhaps requiring
more skill or background in searching for the solution than the average user
might have, the lesson above might not be appropriate. But I try to provide
the logic of my search as well as the answer, in hopes of helping that OP
with the challenging problem in the future.

stepping off the soapbox,
Val


.

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