Microsoft Word

[David Poehlman]

Thanks.  I love having teeth.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Janina Sajka" <janina at afb.net>
To: "Anna Schneider" <annas at drizzle.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 30, 2002 7:05 PM
Subject: Microsoft Word


About Microsoft Word ...

There are several ways to pull text out of Word files, but I want
to ask first whether you'd like to join the campaign to get
people to stop doing that.

Notice the last line in my signature below. Please consider
putting something like that in your $home/mail/.signature file.

PS: Yes, if you don't have one, just create one with pico! <grin>

When people send me word or PowerPoint, here's what I send them
in return. I do this often enough that I keep this as a file, as
$HOME/mail/noword:


You sent me a document in Microsoft Word format, a secret proprietary
format, so it is hard for me to read. If you send me plain text or HTML,
then I
will read it.

Distributing documents in Word format is bad for you and for others. You
can't be sure what they will look like when viewed with a
different version of Word. They may even not work at all.

Receiving Word attachments is bad for you because they can carry viruses
(see http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/acro.html). Sending Word
documents is also bad for you, because a Word document normally includes
hidden information about the author, enabling those in the know to pry
into
the author's activities (maybe yours). Text that you think you deleted
may still be embarrassingly present. See
http://www.microsystems.com/Shares_Well.htm for more info.

But above all, sending people Word documents puts pressure on them to
use Microsoft software and helps to deny them any other choice. In
effect, you
become a buttress of the Microsoft monopoly. This pressure is a major
obstacle to the broader adoption of free software. Would you please
reconsider
the use of Word format for communication with other people?

To convert the file to HTML is simple. Open the document, click on File,
then Save As, and in the Save As Type strip box at the bottom of the
box,
choose HTML Document or Web Page. Then choose Save. You can then attach
the new HTML document instead of your Word document. Note that Word
changes
in inconsistent ways--if you see slightly different menu item names,
please try them.

To convert to plain text is almost the same--instead of HTML Document,
choose Text Only or Text Document as the Save As Type.


--

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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