Friday, October 1, 2010

TECHNOLOGY, RIGHTPURPOSED: I do love Microsoft's unwavering insistence that it must give people the option of trying to recall sent messages while steadfastly denying people the option of actually recalling messages. The "recall" feature in Outlook, as far as I can tell, is good for exactly two things (and don't get me wrong -- I think both are wonderful):
  • Identifying people who are below the minimal level of technological competence necessary to understand that the "recall" button has never worked for anyone ever anywhere;
  • Calling extra attention to the mistakenly sent email, while letting the recipient know what the sender is trying to hide from him/her.
With features like these, who needs viruses*?

15 comments:

  1. Aimee4:39 PM

    Heh... so true.  My boss insists on using this "feature" even though it never works for him.  He won't be reasoned with.  Sort of like the way my cats will eat any piece of cellophane that crosses their paths, although it makes them puke.  They keep hoping to encounter the mythical non-barfy cellophane.  You know, like in the fairy tales.

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  2. Mithras4:43 PM

    My experience is that the feature does work on messages sent on an internal server.

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  3. I have observed that the need to use the "recall" feature is typically closely linked to the user's inability to understand how to use the "reply to all" feature.

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  4. Sophietje4:46 PM

    And I think only for messages that haven't been opened/ downloaded to the client.  So if you read email at all hours (like me), it doesn't work! bwhaa hahaahahaha

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  5. Joseph J. Finn4:51 PM

    Also, it only works when both the sender and the receiver are using a Microsoft Exchange server email account, but not necessarily the same server.  So that would be a problem.

    (The GMail Undo option, on the other hand, has saved my bacon several times.)

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  6. I find it's very helpful to add humor to my day.

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  7. Of course, e-mail dysfunctions can be even more substantial.  My boss at one point attempted to forward a request for assistance from a client to Matt@can.we.help.  His secretary divined that it was meant to go to me.

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  8. At my prior place of employment, the need to try "Recall" seemed to be directly proportional to the sender's propensity for including animated icons of monkeys crashing cymbals and assurances regarding how Jesus felt about me to the bottom of his or her message.

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  9. Travis5:33 PM

    As someon who checks email throughout the evening (thank you, blackberry) I have saved my boss some major headaches by suggesting he delete certain messages this way.

    Once he sent out an 'example' of a new expense report that all salepeople were to use, and inadvertently sent us a copy of his <span>actual</span> expense report.

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  10. The Pathetic Earthling5:37 PM

    I seem to recall that there's a Firefox add-on out there that will require you to do a series of math tests during certain pre-set periods of time (e.g., between 9 pm Friday and 7 am Saturday) to avoid sending drunk emails.  I hope this is never added to Facebook, else "Failbook.com" will be empty.

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  11. Joseph J. Finn5:51 PM

    That's an option on Gmail, actually.

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  12. And even if the email is sent internally, once everyone has blackberries the email can't be recalled from the blackberry server.  IME.  

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  13. Eric J.7:16 PM

    If you work at a company which is under Sarbanes-Oxley reporting requirements, this is likely a firing offense without permission from the CIO.

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  14. Or if you're subject to FOIA or a state-level public access to information act, I imagine.

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  15. Philomena Throckmorton8:08 AM

    A few months ago I got an email--folllowed by a swift and failed attempt at retraction--from a patient who had somehow cc'd me on a sad message to someone about her chemotherapy and how she was trying to stay strong.  Problem? She doesn't have, and never has had, cancer of any kind.

    On the other hand I just used it in blind hope yesterday after realizing that I had sent a message to 2 people in which the message trail contained unflattering remarks about one person by the other recipient.  Oops. I figure that the attempt must count for something, right?  This was all on an internal server so it might actually work for the remark-ee, although the other one has a Blackberry.

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