Better than Microsoft's products at opening old documents
Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 3:22 pm
Windows 98 Annoyances Discussion Forum
Posted by gewg_
(4444 messages posted)
(was: opening documents created with [word 97] with [word 2000])
|This is going to sound silly
| dhm
|
Not in the slightest.
Software that is MORE CAPABLE than the old standby is no laughing matter.
|but there is a nice 93MB download that can solve that.
|
You do have to DOWNLOAD it all, but if you immediately offload the *install* file
to a CD or thumbdrive, the burden should be minimal.
Here's the kicker:
Those parts of the suite that you don't need/want--don't install them;
do a *custom* install and specify what **you** want.
For most folks, all the Examples/Templates are just bloat anyway.
Already have a Drawing program? Don't install another.
Never deal with PowerPoint presentations? Don't install Impress.
If all you need is Writer, only install *that*.
|It's Open Office,
|
You beat me to it. 8-)
|an open source (=freeware)...
|
It's even BETTER than "freeware": It's FREE SOFTWARE (Don't just think "beer").
cache
of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source_software
+software.libre++onerous.licensing.restrictions
cache
of http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
+four.kinds.of.freedom
|...competitor for Microsoft Office:
|Its editor, Writer, can open documents for any version of Word
|and convert them into another version.
|
...and when it comes to backwards-compatibility,
OpenOffice.org is MUCH BETTER at handling M$'s *.DOC format (*.XLS too)
than M$'s own products.
The word LEGENDARY is being applied to OOo ever more widely in this regard.
Note: If your documents use VBA macros, let us know.
|It has its own format, .ODT,
|
Yup. That's Open Document Text--part of Open Document Format
(as in **No proprietary vendor can lock up your documents**).
|which Microsoft says it will add to future versions of Word.
|
dhm,
Ever hear that phrase "kicking and screaming"?
M$ is doing EVERYTHING it can to DEFEAT this
*wherever* it is proposed as a mandatory (open) standard.
--because it will mean the end of their stranglehold on office software.
Step right up.
Be the first on your block to spit in BillG's face.
|[...]Sun Microsystems is behind Open Office,
|
Yup.
|largely out of spite towards Microsoft.
|
Oh, I don't know about that. 8-)
|[...]download managers[...]
|
Yup. Makes life so much easier.
|[...]Defrag your disk before you run the installation program[...]
|
A great (not-so-little) tip.
The *Custom Install* I mentioned can eliminate a lot of the *little files*.
|OO is richly featured but as is traditional for open source software[,]
|the documentation is rottenly sparse.
|
...but that doesn't mean there isn't LOTS of help out there:
cache
of http://support.openoffice.org/
The Usenet Archive q=ingroup:openoffice
|It's not hard to use but the learning process includes a lot of cursing.
|
Now dhm is going to name the app with similar power where this isn't true.
8-)
...and of course, Keith chimed in with a **M$O works for my mother** comment.
|
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 |  |  | Better than Microsoft's products at opening old documents (gewg_: Tue, Jun 26, 2007, 3:22 pm) |
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