anonymous-response.html (7086B)
1 <!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" --> 2 <!-- Parent-Version: 1.96 --> 3 <!-- This page is derived from /server/standards/boilerplate.html --> 4 <!--#set var="TAGS" value="essays upholding action" --> 5 <!--#set var="DISABLE_TOP_ADDENDUM" value="yes" --> 6 <title>A Response to Word Attachments 7 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> 8 <meta http-equiv="Keywords" 9 content="GNU, FSF, Free Software Foundation, Linux, general, public, license, gpl, general public license, freedom, software, power, rights, word, attachment, word attachment, microsoft" /> 10 <meta http-equiv="Description" content="This essay explains why Microsoft Word attachments to email are bad, and describes what you can do to help stop this practice." /> 11 <!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/anonymous-response.translist" --> 12 <!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" --> 13 <!--#include virtual="/philosophy/ph-breadcrumb.html" --> 14 <!--GNUN: OUT-OF-DATE NOTICE--> 15 <!--#include virtual="/server/top-addendum.html" --> 16 <div class="article reduced-width"> 17 <h2>A Response to Word Attachments</h2> 18 19 <div class="infobox"><p> 20 <em>This letter recommends OpenOffice; LibreOffice did not exist then. 21 <a href="https://www.libreoffice.org/">LibreOffice</a> is what we 22 recommend.</em> 23 </p></div> 24 <hr class="thin" /> 25 26 <p> 27 I'm sorry, but I was unable to read the Microsoft Word document you sent 28 me. Microsoft has been steadily changing the .doc format over the 29 releases of Microsoft Word (4.0, 95, 97, 2000, and now XP). Microsoft 30 has also intentionally refused to release the specification of the .doc 31 format to the community, making Microsoft Word the only application 32 that can reliably open this format. There is the Microsoft 33 Word Viewer application, but it only runs on Microsoft Windows 34 operating systems and does not allow one to edit the document. 35 </p><p> 36 The development team that designed the software I choose to use 37 (OpenOffice.org), has tried hard to figure out how the .doc format is 38 created and interpreted, in order to make it available to more people. 39 They believe that all people should be able to exchange information 40 electronically, and .doc is one of the most common formats. So, they 41 tried to make OpenOffice.org, the main competitor to Microsoft's own 42 Office suite, as compatible as possible with Microsoft's own formats. 43 But Microsoft did not like this, because it would mean that people that 44 have not bought Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office would be able to 45 read and write .doc documents. 46 </p><p> 47 Unfortunately, it seems that Microsoft is sometimes successful. My 48 non-Microsoft application was unable to open the .doc document you sent 49 me. As a result, we cannot exchange information, until one of the 50 following happens: 51 </p><p> 52 [0] The information intended to be read/processed by me is converted to 53 an open format that people who don't use Microsoft Windows and Microsoft 54 Office are able to process. 55 </p><p> 56 [1] I purchase and install Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Word, and by 57 deduction all other Microsoft applications necessary to do my work. 58 </p><p> 59 Because it will be a cold day in hell before I do the latter, I would 60 suggest we find a different way of exchanging information 61 electronically. 62 </p><p> 63 --A 64 </p><p> 65 PS: I hope you realize that I have nothing against you as a person. I 66 just can't use the document you sent me, and I tried to explain why the 67 implicit assumption that I would be able to read it, was mistaken. 68 </p><p> 69 PPS: When I tried to open the document you sent to me, my word processor 70 crashed, obviously unable to properly interpret the .doc format. My 71 word processor was handling 4 other documents at the time. Two of them 72 were assignments, and all changes I had not saved were lost. On 73 aggregate, about two hours of my work were lost because the 74 OpenOffice.org developers were unable to overcome the barriers Microsoft 75 put in place, and render the document properly. I believe they are the 76 last to blame for this failure. 77 </p><p> 78 PPPS: For further reasons why .doc should not be the format of choice 79 when exchanging information electronically, I invite you to read 80 <a href="/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html"> 81 gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html</a>. It may be 82 long, but it certainly exposes the compromises both you, as the 83 sender, and I, as the receiver, are making by exchanging Microsoft 84 Word documents. 85 </p> 86 </div> 87 88 </div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> 89 <!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> 90 <div id="footer" role="contentinfo"> 91 <div class="unprintable"> 92 93 <p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to 94 <a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. 95 There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> 96 the FSF. Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent 97 to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p> 98 99 <p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, 100 replace it with the translation of these two: 101 102 We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality 103 translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection. 104 Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard 105 to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> 106 <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> 107 108 <p>For information on coordinating and contributing translations of 109 our web pages, see <a 110 href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations 111 README</a>. --> 112 Please see the <a 113 href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations 114 README</a> for information on coordinating and contributing translations 115 of this article.</p> 116 </div> 117 118 <!-- Regarding copyright, in general, standalone pages (as opposed to 119 files generated as part of manuals) on the GNU web server should 120 be under CC BY-ND 4.0. Please do NOT change or remove this 121 without talking with the webmasters or licensing team first. 122 Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the 123 document. For web pages, it is ok to list just the latest year the 124 document was modified, or published. 125 126 If you wish to list earlier years, that is ok too. 127 Either "2001, 2002, 2003" or "2001-2003" are ok for specifying 128 years, as long as each year in the range is in fact a copyrightable 129 year, i.e., a year in which the document was published (including 130 being publicly visible on the web or in a revision control system). 131 132 There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers 133 Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. --> 134 135 <p>Copyright © 2003, 2013 Anonymous contributor</p> 136 137 <p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" 138 href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative 139 Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p> 140 141 <!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" --> 142 143 <p class="unprintable">Updated: 144 <!-- timestamp start --> 145 $Date: 2021/10/02 08:22:57 $ 146 <!-- timestamp end --> 147 </p> 148 </div> 149 </div><!-- for class="inner", starts in the banner include --> 150 </body> 151 </html>