Completely OT - bedtime for children

[John Williamson]

You have, of course, come across numerous .docx files that OO 3.2 and LO

3.3 won't open, and vice versa? Or are you still using OO 2.x, which was released before Office 2007?

[Huge]

You do realise MS's docx files are non-standard, don't you? Embrace and extend, embrace and extend.

[John Williamson]

As .docx is a M$ standard, how can they be non-standard? Have you *ever* come across a .docx file that OO or LO won't open?

.docx files may not conform to the Open Document standard, but I suspect that OO and LO .od* files don't comply fully, either.

[Simon Finnigan]

Yes, but the formats you're objecting to are used on the vast majority of computers.

[Tim Watts]

What I'm objecting people expecting me to shell out a not insignificant amount of money to adopt their choice, when they have the power to make a tiny effort and be sociable with what they send.

They can spend their money on such things if they want, but to expect others to to suit them really *is* the height of arrogance.

Send RTF if nothing else - does the lastest version still support that?

[Tim Streater]

What is a .exe file and why should I want one on my Mac?

[Tim Streater]

Word does styles OK, but I wouldn't trust it to do anything more than simple placement of images.

[Tim Streater]

[John Williamson]

And the answer to the question about whether you think you can add equations in Word is?

Or is the Mac version so crippled that it can't?

[dennis]

There are free (as in beer) readers for office formats. That they don't run on linux is your problem. Maybe they work in wine?

[John Williamson]

For you, it'd have to be an .app file or maybe a .cmpi file.

Or you might have to ask the Great God Jobs for an extension to your version of Office.

Linux users, of course, could be asked to run a (provided) script for apt to update their office program of choice.

But, of course, being a Mac user, all this is probably done for you by the OS, removing the need for you to know.

[Tim Streater]

I've no idea - I've never tried it.

Gosh - a shining wit!

Having used Word on both platforms I have learnt to distrust its ability to do anything complex reliably. Further, the question of whether it's "crippled" as you so snootily put it is neither here nor there. We're discussing homework assignments. Are you now expecting the teachers/secretaries who earlier in the thread were not supposed to know how to do "File-> Save" now to know how to include equation editors and do complex things with diagrams in a Word doc? Make your mind up.

[Tim Streater]

You're going to write a Mac app for me are you? And what's a .cmpi file?

For Office 2008 you mean? No, it'll write Office 95 and 97/2004 formats amongst others, so I assume it'll read 'em too.

Certainly where it comes to creating PDFs, you can do that in any Mac app that has a print dialogue box. Built in and no farting about, you see. These days, I'd call any machine that can't create PDFs and read them "crippled", personally.

[Tim Streater]

I suspect *you* work in wine, dennis. I'd give it up if I were you.

[John Williamson]

Thank you. Just out of interest, what *would* your program of choice be for inserting complex graphics and equations into a mainly text document?

Sarcasm, yet. And not a spoonerism in sight.

I know a lot of people who can do *very* complicated things in Word reliably. I am also aware of a number of children who are much more knowledgeable about computers than their teachers and/ or parents.

I'm not the one who said teachers and school staff in general were too thick to "Save as", either.

[John Williamson]

I'd get it the same way I'd get an .exe file.

.cmpi = Context Menu Plugin. or it might need to be a .shlb (Shared Library file).

.docx? One of the features in all versions of M$ Office has been the ability to open files from previous versions.

There are "free as in beer" and "free as in speech" printer drivers for all versions of Windows which will output reasonably compliant pdf files, and appear as printers to all programs. It took me about three minutes to find and download the one I use.

But why your insistence on using a proprietary format?

[Huge]

[Another derisive snort]

[Tim Streater]

Now you're getting it!

What, teachers and schools secs you mean? The same ones who apparently can't do "Save As"?

These children are the ones setting the homework assignments are they?

[Steve Walker]

Unfortunately the only way to extend the kitchen would block access to the garage (it's damned tight now!)

Unfortunately, there isn't anything that we all like!

Unfortunately we are 75 yards outside the catchment area, despite it being the closer of the two R.C. schools, therefore every child in the catchment area comes first. When our first child started there, there was no lack of places and it never crossed our minds that that would change so quickly. It is also the school that we have ties to. It is the school my wife and her sister attended, attached to the Church that she has attended all her life and that her parent attended. She was baptised and confirmed there, we married there, our children were baptised there, her parents' funeral services took place there, etc.

When there was a problem getting our second child in, our connections to the school/church and "good record" lead to someone giving some advice that we think helped at the appeal. We do not want to jeopardise chances of future advice.

One of the annoying things is the number of parent we hear moaning about the expectations that they take part in the religious aspects of the school - if they've no interest, why don't the use the normal state school 100 yards down the road!

No, there was definitely a scheme which was aimed at the very low paid and the unemployed.

:)

SteveW

[Tim Streater]

Woss this? More MS stuff?

Yes, .docx and .xlsx too.

Ah good, so the teachers and secs should have no problem then. Which I think is where we came in.

Everyone I deal with is quite happy to have PDFs, if that's what you're referring too. And I notice that most documentation I download seems to be PDF too. That's the case whether it's a form from a bank or pension company, a document for some piece of home kit such as a Danfoss or Honeywell central heating controller, documentation for old microprocessor chips such as the Motorola 68000, or old CERN docs such as this:

in which you may find my name.

So you might like to think of it as "proprietary", but plenty of others than Adobe seem to be able to create it. As you say yourself.