OT: Massachusetts Verdict: MS Office Formats Out

[Nancy Merckle]

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

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