Printing challenges



  • Earlier this week I had a user report printing problems, specifically that their printer was printing duplex when they did not want that. I walked the user through checking their print settings so it would only print single-sided. The user then offered that they were printing it out so they could scan it as a PDF and email it. All of our workstations have a PDF printer installed so they can just print to that and make a PDF that isn't crap and doesn't have intermediate dead-tree steps. I pointed this out to the user and took a look at his screen to show him how to do this, thinking he's got a .doc or something that he wants to send out as a PDF. I then see the original document, open in Adobe Reader because it's ALREADY A FREAKING PDF.

    So, rather than attaching a PDF to an email, the user follows this simple process:

    1. Print 40+ page document single-sided
    2. Scan on the awesome autofeed scanner (which will scan double-sided, but our user apparently has something against trees)
    3. Receive scanned PDF in email
    4. Forward email to intended recipients



  • It's like there's this RTS landscape, right?, except it's personal computing, and to these people, it's covered entirely in black, and all they know, the only knowledge they possess at all, is the bit where their starting unit was placed by the game. And they never click.



  • @dhromed said:

    It's like there's this RTS landscape, right?, except it's personal computing, and to these people, it's covered entirely in black, and all they know, the only knowledge they possess at all, is the bit where their starting unit was placed by the game. And they never click.

    Honestly, it's worse than that. The print-scan-email process is much more involved and arguably requires much more technical knowledge than just, you know, sending the PDF you already have. In car analogy terms, it's like building an entire car by hand so you can drive to the car store when all along you had a perfectly functional car right there.



  • His icon could be a buffalo, but it could also just be a thick-necked guy with a cowlick.

    Bravo.



  • Trees are evil, man! Also, printing a PDF and scanning it back in prevents people who have copies of Acrobat (the full suite, not the reader) from making "editorial adjustments" without resorting to Photoshop or OCR... :P



  •  You're missing the point. If he doesn't go through this step, one of the recipients might have a printer that can't do duplex and would miss half of the document.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @ericmorton said:

    You're missing the point. If he doesn't go through this step, one of the recipients might have a printer that can't do duplex and would miss half of the document.

    I have a duplex printer, but I don't have a duplex monitor. Probably printing it out and sticking it in the mail is the best solution.



  • @blakeyrat said:

    His icon could be a buffalo, but it could also just be a thick-necked guy with a cowlick.

    Bravo.

    I always think "That's David Bowie with his face turned away from me" for a few seconds before remembering "Oh, yeah, buffalo.."



  • @ekolis said:

    Also, printing a PDF and scanning it back in prevents people who have copies of Acrobat (the full suite, not the reader) from making "editorial adjustments"...

    So do a shotgun and having nothing left to lose. The Chief took my badge; so what? He also said I was a loose cannon..

    I never liked that fat bastard much anyway.

    --------------------------------------------------

    The cool night air tastes like vengeance.. and blood.. wait, my tongue is bleeding.. I guess that chemical plant fire is still burning. That has to be some kind of record, even for New Jersey.

    It's not longer my problem. I'm no longer a part of humanity; I checked my soul at the door of the morgue. Tonight I find the bastards who murdered my family (and/or modified my PDF).. Tonight I feast on their blood.

    No, wait, that's my blood.. sinus tissues must be hemorrhaging again..

    fucking New Jersey.



  • I see the problem: there's a wooden table stage that's omitted from the process.



  • @dhromed said:

    It's like there's this RTS landscape, right?, except it's personal computing, and to these people, it's covered entirely in black, and all they know, the only knowledge they possess at all, is the bit where their starting unit was placed by the game. And they never click.
    +1 internet

     


  • :belt_onion:

    @Cassidy said:

    I see the problem: there's a wooden table stage that's omitted from the process.

    As of today, that allusion is no longer funny.

    (No, seriously, I used to laugh at it but I just felt it implode as I read it this time.)

     



  • @heterodox said:

    @Cassidy said:

    I see the problem: there's a wooden table stage that's omitted from the process.

    As of today, that allusion is no longer funny.

    (No, seriously, I used to laugh at it but I just felt it implode as I read it this time.)

     

    I'm going to tell you the awful truth: it was never funny. We implanted you with a brain worm which made you think wooden table jokes are funny when they clearly are not. We then monitored your progress for years in the name of science. Last night, after a long career of service to the force, the brain worm suffered a brain hemorrhage and died in his sleep. However, we feel he would be proud of the advancements his research helped.

    I don't know why anybody else ever thought it was funny; you're the only one we ever put a brain worm in. They're probably just retarded.



  • Sometimes "I know this works" is better than "If I spent some time to learn the system and ask around, I *might* learn how to do this easier, or I might just waste my time".<br><b>

     My father tells this story, to illustrate this difference:<br><br>

    A "regular guy" visits a cabin. On the table is an unlight candle and a match.  It is getting dark, which is a problem, so the "regular guy" lights the candle, problem solved.  A mathemetician has a similar experience, and lights the candle when it gets dark.  Problem solved.  The following evening, each returns to his cabin, where this time on the table is a lit candle and a match.  The regular guy says "hmm, nothing to do" and sits to watch TV.  The mathemetician blows out the candle, thus reducing the problem to one he has already solved.<br><br>

    In this case, the person has figured out a way that works; why try something new?

     

     

     

     

     

     



  • @dogbrags said:

    Sometimes "I know this works" is better than "If I spent some time to learn the system and ask around, I might learn how to do this easier, or I might just waste my time".<br><b>

     My father tells this story, to illustrate this difference:<br><br>

    A "regular guy" visits a cabin. On the table is an unlight candle and a match.  It is getting dark, which is a problem, so the "regular guy" lights the candle, problem solved.  A mathemetician has a similar experience, and lights the candle when it gets dark.  Problem solved.  The following evening, each returns to his cabin, where this time on the table is a lit candle and a match.  The regular guy says "hmm, nothing to do" and sits to watch TV.  The mathemetician blows out the candle, thus reducing the problem to one he has already solved.<br><br>

    In this case, the person has figured out a way that works; why try something new?

     

     

     

     

     

     

    I replied to you thinking for some reason this was the "calculate leap years in VB" thread. Instead this is the "print-then-scan a 40 page PDF to send as PDF" thread. When I thought it was the former I read your reply as serious. But now that I know it's the latter I'm not sure if you response is serious or sarcastic. If it is serious: holy shit.



  • I saw that, btw, morbs.



  • @Sutherlands said:

    I saw that, btw, morbs.

    So did I. By the way, that was a link to a .NET Framework function, not a VB 6 one.



  • @Spectre said:

    By the way, that was a link to a .NET Framework function, not a VB 6 one.

    It said VB.. it's not the same thing? I thought .NET was a library in VB (and C#, C++, maybe others)?



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    I thought .NET was a library in VB (and C#, …)?

    More like the other way around, bub.



  • @Cad Delworth said:

    @morbiuswilters said:
    I thought .NET was a library in VB (and C# …)?

    More like the other way around, bub.

    VB is a library in .NET? I don't understand. I mean, I know .NET is a framework and that there's the common runtime thing for VB, C# and managed C++, but it seems to me like .NET is always referenced in speech as a framework/library. VB predates .NET, I thought, so how can VB be a part of .NET and not the other way around?



  • @dogbrags said:

    In this case, the person has figured out a way that works; why try something new?

    I hope you're not being serious with that statement, just reflecting the mindset of the Mathematician instead...


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @Cassidy said:

    @dogbrags said:
    In this case, the person has figured out a way that works; why try something new?

    I hope you're not being serious with that statement, just reflecting the mindset of the Mathematician instead...

    What's wrong with you guys?! I hope he's serious, and that we can get someone in to work at his company so we can hear about his adventures. In case, y'know, snoofle takes a vacation or something.



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    @Cad Delworth said:
    @morbiuswilters said:
    I thought .NET was a library in VB (and C# …)?

    More like the other way around, bub.

    VB is a library in .NET? I don't understand. I mean, I know .NET is a framework and that there's the common runtime thing for VB, C# and managed C++, but it seems to me like .NET is always referenced in speech as a framework/library. VB predates .NET, I thought, so how can VB be a part of .NET and not the other way around?

    The much more likely explanation is that Cad Delworth is a moron.

    I will say, however, that VB.net is a different language than VB. Not a VASTLY different language, but definitely a different one.



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    @Spectre said:
    By the way, that was a link to a .NET Framework function, not a VB 6 one.

    It said VB.. it's not the same thing? I thought .NET was a library in VB (and C#, C++, maybe others)?

    The .NET Framework is the virtual machine and runtime library powering, among other things, VB version 7 (AKA .NET) and up. VB 6 predates .NET and has its own runtime.



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    @ekolis said:
    Also, printing a PDF and scanning it back in prevents people who have copies of Acrobat (the full suite, not the reader) from making "editorial adjustments"...

    So do a shotgun and having nothing left to lose. The Chief took my badge; so what? He also said I was a loose cannon..

    I never liked that fat bastard much anyway.

    --------------------------------------------------

    The cool night air tastes like vengeance.. and blood.. wait, my tongue is bleeding.. I guess that chemical plant fire is still burning. That has to be some kind of record, even for New Jersey.

    It's not longer my problem. I'm no longer a part of humanity; I checked my soul at the door of the morgue. Tonight I find the bastards who murdered my family (and/or modified my PDF).. Tonight I feast on their blood.

    No, wait, that's my blood.. sinus tissues must be hemorrhaging again..

    fucking New Jersey.


    Just a guess . . . your Bulwer-Lytton contest entry? Decent shot, but could be better.



  • Maybe the user followed this process because they wanted to randomly shuffle pages on the document, maybe even lose a couple of them?


  • Garbage Person

    @ekolis said:

    Trees are evil, man! Also, printing a PDF and scanning it back in prevents people who have copies of Acrobat (the full suite, not the reader) from making "editorial adjustments" without resorting to Photoshop or OCR... :P
     

    As somebody who has Acrobat Pro and uses it extensively at work and actually has to make editorial adjustments, Acrobat is prettymuch fundamentally incapable of making editorial adjustments. To make said adjustments, you're best off using the Acrobat redaction tool (assuming it lets you - often it doesn't), exporting to EPS and then adding the new content, and then running it through Adobe Distiller to get a PDF back.



  • @Buffalo said:

    So, rather than attaching a PDF to an email, the user follows this simple process:

    1. Print 40+ page document single-sided
    2. Scan on the awesome autofeed scanner (which will scan double-sided, but our user apparently has something against trees)
    3. Receive scanned PDF in email
    4. Forward email to intended recipients

    To be fair to the user (since we should treat the mentally retarded with respect), they may have tried scanning double-sided at first but found that the content on the other side was showing through.  The way to minimize bleed-through when scanning double-sided material is to use a black backdrop, but for some reason few scanners actually do that.  (If yours does, it truly is awesome.)

    Either that, or they just don't know how to switch the scanner to double-sided mode.

     



  • @Buffalo said:

    1. Print 40+ page document single-sided
    2. Scan on the awesome autofeed scanner (which will scan double-sided, but our user apparently has something against trees)
    3. Receive scanned PDF in email
    4. Forward email to intended recipients

    You know in our office, the printer and scanner are the same machine, so that would be really goofy. Its scanner can email directly, without needing a computer, also.



  • @morbiuswilters said:

    @Spectre said:
    By the way, that was a link to a .NET Framework function, not a VB 6 one.

    It said VB.. it's not the same thing? I thought .NET was a library in VB (and C#, C++, maybe others)?

    VB.NET is based on VB in the same way that, say, the movied Starship Trooper is based on the book of the same name. Which is to say, not at all. Somebody just liked the name



  • @taustin said:

    @morbiuswilters said:

    @Spectre said:
    By the way, that was a link to a .NET Framework function, not a VB 6 one.

    It said VB.. it's not the same thing? I thought .NET was a library in VB (and C#, C++, maybe others)?

    VB.NET is based on VB in the same way that, say, the movied Starship Trooper is based on the book of the same name. Which is to say, not at all. Somebody just liked the name

    It's still visual, meaning it has a forms designer, and it's still Basic. So.

    I mean, it's nothing like the original BASIC, but then again neither was VB6. So.

    So.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @blakeyrat said:

    @taustin said:
    VB.NET is based on VB in the same way that, say, the movied Starship Trooper is based on the book of the same name. Which is to say, not at all. Somebody just liked the name

    It's still visual, meaning it has a forms designer, and it's still Basic. So.

    Indeed. I think there's also confusion between the language itself and its implementation. The VB.NET compiler outputs CLR assembly, which is not at all like VB6. The language definition has evolved some to be able to fit into the CLR world, but it's still recognizably VB, and saying that the two languages are not related just make the speaker sound ignorant.



  • @boomzilla said:

    @blakeyrat said:
    @taustin said:
    VB.NET is based on VB in the same way that, say, the movied Starship Trooper is based on the book of the same name. Which is to say, not at all. Somebody just liked the name

    It's still visual, meaning it has a forms designer, and it's still Basic. So.

    Indeed. I think there's also confusion between the language itself and its implementation. The VB.NET compiler outputs CLR assembly, which is not at all like VB6. The language definition has evolved some to be able to fit into the CLR world, but it's still recognizably VB, and saying that the two languages are not related just make the speaker sound ignorant.


    How is it related to vbdos? I remember in high school I "got" myself a copy of quickbasic so I could compile qbasic code, but once I had a program so big the qb linker couldn't do it: vbdos could though.



  • @vyznev said:

    Either that, or they just don't know how to switch the scanner to double-sided mode.
     

    This.

    @blakeyrat said:

    @Buffalo said:
    1. Print 40+ page document single-sided
    2. Scan on the awesome autofeed scanner (which will scan double-sided, but our user apparently has something against trees)
    3. Receive scanned PDF in email
    4. Forward email to intended recipients

    You know in our office, the printer and scanner are the same machine, so that would be really goofy. Its scanner can email directly, without needing a computer, also.

     

    That's how ours is too, except that the user printed the document on the printer in his office and was then going to take it out to the big multifunction machine to scan. When you scan to an address it just sends a .pdf and pretty much a blank message from noreply(at)domain.com, so people usually scan to themselves and forward the message. The alternative is to manually enter their email address in the "from" field on the scanner before scanning the document, otherwise the recipient just gets a random .pdf dumped in their inbox with no way of knowing who it's from.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @Buffalo said:

    The alternative is to manually enter their email address in the "from" field on the scanner before scanning the document, otherwise the recipient just gets a random .pdf dumped in their inbox with no way of knowing who it's from.

    That's just begging for abuse.



  • Fortunately almost everyone who works here is immensely boring. That does give me some ideas for my last day though...



  • Changing the desktop is only the first step. You still have the screensaver, login splash, letterhead, etc. Assify everything.



  • @mrsparkyman said:

    Assify everything.

    Oh, so it won't be any different from when he was working there.



  •  Pretty much.



  • @mrsparkyman said:

    Changing the desktop is only the first step. You still have the screensaver, login splash, letterhead, etc. [b]Assify[b] everything.
     

    Is that anything like the rainbows and unicorns thing I sometimes see here?  Only with burros?



  • @da Doctah said:

    @mrsparkyman said:

    Changing the desktop is only the first step. You still have the screensaver, login splash, letterhead, etc. [b]Assify[/b] everything.
     

    Is that anything like the rainbows and unicorns thing I sometimes see here?  Only with burros rectums?

    FTFY

  • Trolleybus Mechanic

    @Buffalo said:

    Fortunately almost everyone who works here is immensely boring. That does give me some ideas for my last day though...

     

    Take me off this list!

     


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