So we go through troubleshooting away. For twenty minutes. I cannot reproduce his problem even using his authentication credentials. We’re at the part where I ask him to use the command line to do his checkout—and if you knew this special needs person, you’d know I’m asking quite a bit here.

Just then, and I shit you not this is 20 minutes into the troubleshooting I get this on IM:

special needs guy [4:52 PM]:
the OK button is now enabled. Seems pretty wierd but it stays dithered unless you enter something into the checkout directory – using the browse button to place a path there does not enable it

special needs guy [4:53 PM]:
I am good to go now

This could also be titled “how to finally put to rest a stupid, recurring problem that plagued you all morning because a patron was trying to conform to some byzantine thesis submission guidelines someone else in your work place drafted.”

Not mentioned in this article as extra bonus stupidity: If you start numbering in a section in the middle of the document, it will bork it’s way back into other sections that should not be numbered. I could be wrong about this though as the patron’s document was so filled with page and section breaks by the time I got there who knows what flipping rules were being applied.

Which gets me on the brink of yet another rant about Word and the academic community. Suffice it to say, there are other, more appropriately engineered and time-tested environments for someone who wants to publish a bound manuscript. The fact that you need to learn an additional markup language is apparently sufficient enough barrier to 99% of all academics—faculty and student—these days. The pain and suffering that comes with corrupt files, capricious layout quirks, and multi-layered kludging are apparently more abstract than LaTeX.

But, as I said, it is a common rant if you happen to work near me. No need to spill over into my blog and the wider universe. So I’ll stop here.

But, fercryinoutloud, Word can feel so hemorrhoidal sometimes.