ms-word, was: Re: anti-word

[Janina Sajka]

On Sat, 12 Jan 2002, Steve Holmes wrote:

> If it is a circle, it is a vicious one. It's one thing to update the
> original document and work it as a text doc in your favorite unix editor
> but doing this destroys all formatting and styles originnaly placed with
> the word processor, hence we need a word compatible word processor for
> linuw.

Sorry, you are wrong. First of all, it is unusual to get a word processed 
document properly formatted. Most often their creators create some 
semblance of formatting by assuming that pushing text around the screen, a 
little left, a little right, a little up and a little down by whatever 
means constitutes appropriate formatting. It doesnt, but the explanations 
are lengthy. So, I'll drop that and assume, for the purpose of my reply, 
that they've formatted correctly.

So, if the document is correctly formatted, it will correctly translate 
into another formatting schema, provided the document formatting usage is 
published. One simply maps one to the other, and formatting is preserved, 
to be edited by the next person, and so on. Recall that html is but one 
way to keep organizational formatting intact. Unfortunately, Microsoft 
doesn't release it's specs for Word, so the best we can do is reverse 
engineer. Therefore, if it doesn't translate well, the sender gets what 
they deserve, the fruits of their arrogance.

Please note that Word arrogance extends well beyond their proprietary .doc 
file format. The html generated by Word is attrocious, for example. And 
Microsoft's attempts to redefine high ASCII values, and muck with 
consensus character sets is, to my mind, the height of arrogance.

I do not regard it my duty to protect such people from the consequences of 
their own folly. 
 > > On 
Fri, 11 Jan 
2002, Janina Sajka wrote: > > > On Thu, 10 Jan 2002, Gregory Nowak wrote:
> >
> > > Ok, but people also write in word in addition to reading in it when they're in windows.
> >
> > Greg: We're going in circles here. You need something like wv in order to
> > read those Word files that people send out. You don't need to send them
> > Word files in order for them to read what you write in plain text or in
> > html, because they can perfectly well read your text or html using their
> > Word application on Windows.
> >
> > Do you see the circle?
> >  > Greg > >
> > > On Thu, Jan 10, 2002 at 04:27:55PM -0500, Janina Sajka wrote:
> > > > Because everyone sitting in Word can perfectly easily retrieve a .txt or
> > > > .html without knowing they did it.
> > > >
> > > > On Thu, 10 Jan 2002, Gregory Nowak wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > Why do you say it isn't necessary to write word documents when that format is being used widely in the work place and academic settings today?
> > > > > Greg
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > On Thu, Jan 10, 2002 at 09:47:31AM -0500, Janina Sajka wrote:
> > > > > > On Wed, 9 Jan 2002, Dave Hunt wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > > ... It's called "antiword", ...   It
> > > > > > > cannot write MS Word files.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > It isn't necessary to write MS-Word, it's only necessary to read it
> > > > > > correctly. Users of Word can read text or HTML perfectly well.
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > -Dave
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > _______________________________________________
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> > > > > >
> > > > > > --
> > > > > >
> > > > > > 				Janina Sajka, Director
> > > > > > 				Technology Research and Development
> > > > > > 				Governmental Relations Group
> > > > > > 				American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Email: janina at afb.net		Phone: (202) 408-8175
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Chair, Accessibility SIG
> > > > > > Open Electronic Book Forum (OEBF)
> > > > > > http://www.openebook.org
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
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> > > >
> > > > --
> > > >
> > > > 				Janina Sajka, Director
> > > > 				Technology Research and Development
> > > > 				Governmental Relations Group
> > > > 				American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)
> > > >
> > > > Email: janina at afb.net		Phone: (202) 408-8175
> > > >
> > > > Chair, Accessibility SIG
> > > > Open Electronic Book Forum (OEBF)
> > > > http://www.openebook.org
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > Speakup mailing list
> > > > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca
> > > > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
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> > > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca
> > > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
> > >
> >
> >
> 
> 
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-- 
	
				Janina Sajka, Director
				Technology Research and Development
				Governmental Relations Group
				American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)

Email: janina at afb.net		Phone: (202) 408-8175

Chair, Accessibility SIG
Open Electronic Book Forum (OEBF)
http://www.openebook.org