Customization Productivity Tradeoffs

There's a trade-off between customizing every aspect of your PC to increase your personal productivity, and being compatible with your peers. Here's an example of the two viewpoints:

: People who install Netscape and StarOffice on their PCs can make life difficult for others in an intranet environment where Microsoft is the standard. (The opposite is true as well: one who installs Microsoft stuff where other vendors' software is the standard are just as annoying.) These people are constantly complaining that everyone else in the company is using incompatible file formats, or that they can't read their e-mail attachments, or that the new OS service pack broke their systems. An extreme example would be someone who installs Linux onto their "Windows box" for no good reason. People who install the latest version of Microsoft software can make life difficult for others, such as installing Office XP where Office 2000 is the standard.
: Yeah, everyone needs to learn to take what the network admins give them and shut up about not being as productive as they would be if their systems were customized for their work habits. While we're at it, everyone gets the same chair (not adjustable) and the same desk, lamp, and telephone. One standard for everything, carefully researched and implemented by the Facilities Committee, is what we need. And don't go fixing your ducts without a form twenty-seven B-stroke-six either.

See also "The psychology of learning" - http://www.labri.fr/Perso/~strandh/Teaching/Langages-Enchasses/Common/Strandh-Tutorial/psychology.html -- Bj�rnEriksson