On Sat, 2005-10-01 at 23:16 -0400, Nancy Merckle wrote: > On Fri, 30 Sep 2005, Tom Pangborn wrote: > > > "... and word was no > > longer available ; How would ..." > > > > Wouldn't you just install the old version of Word, the one the file(s) > > were created with? Wait a minute, we're pretending aren't we. > > We weren't pretending when higher ups decided that we would now all be on > a Word standard. This required all official documents for our office to > be produced in Word format. After 18 years of a Word Perfect standard, > there were a lot of legacy documents to be converted to Word. Neither > Word nor Word Perfect was able to convert complex documents from one > format to the other. Many hours were spent (by others) converting > documentation from WP to Word. There are now less than a dozen licenses > for WP in the division, so finding someone to convert a legacy document > can be difficult. > > When OOo announced its upgraded Word Perfect filter about 18 months ago, I > was experimenting with it and a co-worker mentioned a document with tables > that he had tried to convert with no success. He e-mailed me the > document, I opened it in OOo, saved it in Word format and e-mailed it > back. It may not have been perfect, but he was very happy. > > With OOo, I'm no longer concerned about loosing access to my Word Perfect > Documents. Also, I can read Word docs, without having to send $ to M$ for > the privilege. (It is provided at work, but I don't even have to use it > there.) > > My point is that sometimes old versions of the software are not available, > having been removed for security purposes, non-renewal of the license, or > the only remaining copy of the software died on a dead hard drive. > > > Nancy > And that scenario IMHO is what using an open document format is expected to eliminate. Using one proprietary format (WP) and having to convert to another (M$) is a nightmare. If the format were open then it would not matter which work processing tool you were using. They all could read/write it. > -------------------------------------------------------------- > nancym@xxxxxxxxx ..... (future) http://www.charm.net/~nancym/ > The Kitties Page ........... http://members.aol.com/Mysnats/ > My Sister's Karaoke Site ............ http://karaokeklub.com/ > -------------------------------------------------------------- >
