| Downloading |
[Jan. 5th, 2010|11:07 pm] |
A post from earlier today brought to mind a personal pet peeve of mine when talking to users -- People who are confused about what it means to "Download" something.
( I start out with some pedantry. )
Things that "Download" does not mean, in no particular order:
- To use the Windows clipboard to copy text from one document and paste it into another.
- To export data from a database-driven application into a spreadsheet.
- To use "My Computer" or "Windows Explorer" to copy/move files from an inserted CDROM or floppy to the computer's local hard disk.
- To use "My Computer" or "Windows Explorer" to copy/move files from one folder on the computer to another.
- To manually enter data into an input form and save it to the database.
- To make a duplicate of a record in a database.
- To install an update or patch.
Granted, the process of updating or patching an application/firmware/whatever typically involves downloading a patch or update utility. But unless you actually apply said update, the fact that you downloaded it means jack squat. And to segue into a different (but related) rant, no you cannot run the update utility to upgrade a v1.x install of TheApp to v2.0 on a system that does not already have a copy of TheApp installed and expect to have a working copy of TheApp on your computer when you're done.
Also, "I got the download" is not a very useful statement, even if technically correct. We have several files you could have downloaded from our website, any one of which could be what you're talking about. Or you could be talking about something you got from somebody else.
And yes, I've had everything in the list and the two paragraphs following it come up in at least one techsupport call I've taken. |
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