mmiller3 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >>>>> "Amy" == Amy Templeton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> > Hey all, Can anybody recommend a *really, really > > convincing* source of information I can give people/my > > college that will aid in deterring them from trying to > > force people to use MS-Office files (by sending them via > > email and posting them on official college sites)? > You might consider printing them with openoffice and then asking > them to explain the hardcopy to you. This works especially well > if there are included figures. Works if you have access to an > older version of office too. Especially if the software that > produces the wierd hardcopy is on university machines. I appreciate the suggestion, but that's not really relevant for a couple of reasons (if I get your meaning correctly). For one thing, I don't own a printer. For another (I guess this part got cut out of the citations), I do not use or install mouse-based programs if I can avoid it (I use the Stump Window Manager, and generally have only two frames open at any given moment: an Emacs, in which I do all of my editing, emailing/mail reading, web browsing, music playing, etc., and an xterm running GNU Screen for miscellaneous tasks). Also, OpenOffice, nice as it might be for people who are into pointing and clicking at things, is not a long-term solution. What if MS changes their format yet again? Another possibility is that they might change their licensing, forcing anyone who reverse-engineers their code to pay them for the "privilege" of decoding/encoding it or, worse, to abide my Microsoft's proprietary licensing restrictions. There is also the possibility of adding code that would test to see whether the program opening the file is a certified Microsoft program. So even if I were willing to go through the rigamarole of layer after layer of menus and mouse clicks to get to what I want to read, it's only a band-aid, and one that could fall off any day. And (since band-aids are TOTALLY addictive; okay, maybe the band-aid was a bad metaphor. Pain killers, perhaps?) I don't want to get hooked and used to depending on such a system when that day comes. Thanks anyway, though. Amy -- Might not be suitable for persons suffering from weak hearts. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
