avoiding negligence of self or users (was [long] Re: Legal traps in open source *WAY* OT.)

[Alex Satrapa]

Howard Lowndes wrote:
> I've lost count of how many times I have been through this scenario; am I
> being negligent by not considering that the user might be negligent?
> 
> Me: "I'm going to have to delete Windows and re-install.  Have you saved
> off _everything_ you need?"

One problem here is that once you've found that this happens over and 
over again, other people (users used to being spoon-fed) will expect you 
to check that stuff has been copied for them.

You might want to make up a checklist of things that users commonly forget:
  - The "My Documents" directory
  - Word, Excel and Powerpoint files that were saved to the Word, Excel 
and Powerpoint directories
  - Email address book (though this is icky - each application does it a 
different way)

On Mac OS X, it's all fairly simple - just copy the user's home 
directory.  The "Save As.." system dialog defaults to the ~/Documents 
directory.

In most cases where user cluelessness comes to light, it's possible to 
write up a checklist of things that clueful people take for granted.  I 
know checklists have saved my own arse on a number of occasions - either 
because I'm doing things in a hurry or just haven't done some task for a 
long time.

You can then show your client that you are ISO 9001 compliant, too.

Alex