336777 - Microsoft Word attachments not handled properly after downloading

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Thunderbird :: General, defect)

Description

[Mark Dorlester]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X Mach-O; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040804 Netscape/7.2
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X Mach-O; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040804 Netscape/7.2

First, get it straight:  I DO NOT WORK FOR YOU!!  After sending this, I will go on to CNET and other tech media to report that your idea of bugs/help S U C K S and that your F'n product will screw up a Mac system.

EMAIL ATTACHMENTS IN GENERAL AND ATTACHED MICROSOFT WORD DOCS SPECIFICALLY ARE NOT HANDLED CORRECTLY BY THUNDERBIRD.  NO MATTER WHAT I DO, AN ATTACHED .DOC FILE SAVES AS TEXT EDIT AND CAN ONLY BE OPENED AFTER MUCH PAIN IN THE BUTT.  I'm sick of Thunderbird.

I HAVE A DEGREE IN PHYSICS AND WAS AN ORIGINAL MEMBER OF ARPANET IN THE EARLY 1970s.  THERE ARE NO PROBLEMS WITH MY MAC G4 OR MY USER KNOWLEDGE.

Clearly, having demanded that I jump through hoops for the past half hour, you have no interest in this or any other problem YOU have created.  So on I go to the media to report what a lousy group of people you are.  If you want a real fight in the press or in court, just let me know.  I did my graduate work in public law.

Mark Dorlester

PS This problem does not/has never existed with any other email client.


Reproducible: Always

Comment 1

[Anders Conbere]

Mark, I have to say I'm a little confused about your vehemence, as having been part of the original arpa net, and having a degree in physics you must be aware that your using software developed by a non-profit orginization that you are allowed to use for free.  In fact it's your right to do so.

If you are having troubles by no means are your constrained you use this product, and I don't think anyone here thinks you work for the mozilla foundation.  If the bug reporting process has been a trial for you, have you considered visiting the mozillazine forums [http://forums.mozillazine.org/] for their support, or bug forums?  These are often much more user friendly ways of getting responses, help, and or testing for any bugs you might be experiencing.  Where as bugzilla is rather complicated, and not really designed for every day users.

I'm also curious about why this has come down to ad-hominem attacks, and why you think we are a lousy group of people, why you bring up the court of law (you are using our software of your own volition are you not). And why you think we've forced you to do anything (The options are neigh endless for email clients to go to, if you don't like ours, or are disapointed in how volunteers have responded to your compliants perhaps Mac Mail, or another client is a better fit for you.)

~ Anders

Comment 2

[Ryan Flint [:rflint] (ping via IRC for reviews)]

(In reply to comment #0)
> EMAIL ATTACHMENTS IN GENERAL AND ATTACHED MICROSOFT WORD DOCS SPECIFICALLY ARE
> NOT HANDLED CORRECTLY BY THUNDERBIRD.  NO MATTER WHAT I DO, AN ATTACHED .DOC
> FILE SAVES AS TEXT EDIT AND CAN ONLY BE OPENED AFTER MUCH PAIN IN THE BUTT. 
> I'm sick of Thunderbird.

Thunderbird does not choose what application a saved file is opened with. That is up to the OS to decide. It is likely that you have nothing configured configured to handle DOC files as Text Edit is the default application on OS X when there is no other application specified. 

> Clearly, having demanded that I jump through hoops for the past half hour, you
> have no interest in this or any other problem YOU have created.  So on I go to
> the media to report what a lousy group of people you are.  If you want a real
> fight in the press or in court, just let me know.  I did my graduate work in
> public law. 

I can tell you now that the media is not going to care. The vast majority of our users are able to find and receive satisfactory assistance from any one of the many free support mediums we offer. And unlike your 'bug' here, almost 99.9% of those users are also able to convey their problem in a civil manner. Threatening to send a story to the media of how 'horrible' our support is as well as attempting to egg on a legal response is just childish. If how you've conducted yourself in this bug report is any indication of how you most likely acted while seeking support, then it's no wonder you don't have a solution to your problem.

I'm simply at a loss for words regarding this bug report. Your conduct is simply unwarranted considering most of us are unpaid volunteers and offer Thunderbird at no cost to you. Heck, we don't even package Thunderbird with any OS or force you to use it. It's something that YOU went and downloaded by your own choice. 

I'm resolving this bug as invalid without any further triage because quite frankly, I'm sure not a soul who reads this report will want to attempt to extract further information from you. If you're planning on providing any further correspondence within this bug, I implore you to read our etiquette document (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/page.cgi?id=etiquette.html) and bug writing guidelines (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/page.cgi?id=bug-writing.html) first. Though I recommend (if you're willing to still use Thunderbird of course) you use the forum listed in comment 1.

Comment 3

[Mike Beltzner [:beltzner, not reading bugmail]]

Ryan, while I agree wholeheartedly with your statements about the reporter's tone, I think marking this INVALID is premature. I know that I've heard others complain about this too, so we should try to dig into the problem.

Mark: I'm assuming from comment 0 that you have MS Word set as the default "Open With..." setting for files of type .doc. If you save the file to the disk and double click it, does MS Word open? Is the handling only broken when you double click on the attachment directly in Thunderbird?

Comment 4

[Anders Conbere]

I think we're done here.

I'll bug file a new bug with the issue.

[QUOTE]
Anders--

    What an additional insult!

    It may come as a shock to you, but YOUR PRODUCT directed me through 
your labyrinth of bug reporting pages.  I didn't choose bugzilla to 
report the bug, I was directed there.

    In addition, I bet you can't find the several major grammatical 
errors in your email.  Ad hominem or not, I suggest that if you wish to 
stay in the business of communication, you attend the 7th grade.

    And what about the actual Thunderbird attachment problem?  Any 
thoughts?  Buehler?  Buehler???

Mark Dorlester

PS - Yes, I'm free to use or not use your product.  I'm also free to 
make sure others learn of my experience with it and with you.  Clearly, 
you have no interest in fixing the problem and I will forward my 
complaint and your reply as far and wide as I can.  And please - go 
volunteer for the National Rifle Association or the Nazi Party - I'd 
enjoy seeing them benefit from your idea of problem solving.
[/Quote]

Comment 5

[Ben Fowler]

(In reply to comment #3)
> Mark: I'm assuming from comment 0 that you have MS Word set as the default
> "Open With..." setting for files of type .doc. If you save the file to 
> the disk and double click it, does MS Word open? Is the handling only 
> broken when you double click on the attachment directly in Thunderbird?

I have MS Office on my G4 not of my choosing, and I do not want to start it
at any time (I read docs in (ahem) Text Edit through (ahem) choice, or Abiword). Maybe I am in a minority of one, but I doubt it. I particularly do
not want to start MS Office whilst I am reading mail. I
know that we need to be parsimonious with User Preferences, but could I 
suggest  the addition of a Tab for this feature, showing default settings:


+================================================================+
|                                                                |
|                    Common E-mail Annoyances                    |
|                                                                |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                                                |
|  [X] Never open an attachment in a virus-enabled application   |
|      [X] Even if you think I've asked you to                   |
|          [X] Even if I really have asked you to                |
|                                                                |
|  [X] Never open an attachment in an application published by   |
|      Microsoft, Sony, Symantec et cetera                       |
|      [X] Or any other low life                                 |
|      [X] Ever,                                                 |
|          [X] Ever                                              |
|                                                                |
+================================================================+

(The 'really' option is a homage to the paper "Why Are DARPA Researchers 
Afraid of Windows NT").

See http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/22.42.html