XPost: comp.misc, sci.lang, alt.usage.english   
   From: peter@pmoylan.org   
      
   On 10/06/24 13:46, Jeff Barnett wrote:   
   > On 6/9/2024 3:42 PM, HenHanna wrote:   
      
   >> Is there a viewer for  .doc   files?   
   >   
   > Not exactly. However, there is OpenOffice and another (name escapes   
   > me at the moment) that are 1) free and 2) provided for virtually all   
   > Microsoft formats plus open ones that subsume the M$ formats. You can   
   > use these packages as viewers, composers, and editors. In fact, you   
   > can edit and save old format documents in either old or new formats.   
   > A small victory for the open software folks.   
      
   And can even handle Microsoft formats that Microsoft no longer supports.   
   This solves a legal problem, in countries that requires companies to   
   keep business records for a longer time than they can be read with M$   
   software.   
      
   > If I sound a little upset with M$ to you and off topic, your   
   > hearings good. I remember a few decades ago that simultaneously: 1)   
   > DARPA our declared all-advanced research funder in the USA required   
   > that every proposals to them be prepared using, in part, M$ tools   
   > while 2) at the same time the Justice Department was investigating   
   > and suing M$ for being a monopoly!   
      
   Years ago I submitted a research paper to a conference that had suddenly   
   adopted a rule that all submissions must be in MS-Word format. What the   
   conference organisers didn't realise was that the number of lines per   
   page depended on non-portable local conditions. (I think it depended on   
   which printer was installed.) Submissions were limited to 4 pages. When   
   the conference proceedings were published, about half the papers turned   
   out to have a length of 4 pages plus 2 lines.   
      
   (For those who don't know, PDF doesn't have this problem.)   
      
   --   
   Peter Moylan       peter@pmoylan.org    http://www.pmoylan.org   
   Newcastle, NSW   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)