I just purchased the Samsung ML-2510 laser printer and I am using Tiger
and all software is up to date.  When I get a print screen I have the option
of selecting "corel wordperfect", where there is no option for setting the
number of copies, nor options for much of anything for that matter, just:

Every Other Page
Print Backwards
Print Overlay Layer
(PrintSelection is on the screen but faded out-not used)

  If I using an option called "general" and set my number of copies it gets
ignored and prints one copy.

I did not have this problem before, I don't think, when I used my old
Epson.  However, since I got the Samsung for large volume printing
and I never asked for double digit quantities before--the comparison
may not apply.

I tried to search the forum but did not see any discussion that would
help.  If anyone has any ideas I would appreciate any help.

On May 2, 2007, at 7:09 AM, chumknee wrote:

> I just purchased the Samsung ML-2510 laser printer and I am using
> Tiger

Which printer driver are you using?
One that came with your Samsung?  (If so, what is it called and what
version number?  Did it come on a CD-ROM or did you download it from
Samsung's web site?)
One that was built-in to OS X?
Or a Gimp-Print driver?
___________________________________________
Randy B. Singer
Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions)

Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html
___________________________________________

>I just purchased the Samsung ML-2510 laser printer and I am using Tiger
>and all software is up to date. When I get a print screen I have the option
>of selecting "corel wordperfect", where there is no option for setting the
>number of copies, nor options for much of anything for that matter, just:
>
>Every Other Page
>Print Backwards
>Print Overlay Layer
>(PrintSelection is on the screen but faded out-not used)

These would be the options specific to WordPerfect; you wouldn't
expect to see 'number of copies' here.

>
>If I using an option called "general" and set my number of copies it gets
>ignored and prints one copy.

That's the correct place to indicate number of copies. Make sure you
change any other options you need to change first, then set your
number of copies here just before you hit print.

>
>I did not have this problem before, I don't think, when I used my old
>Epson. However, since I got the Samsung for large volume printing
>and I never asked for double digit quantities before--the comparison
>may not apply.

Was your Epson a laser or an inkjet? A vanilla inkjet printer speaks
a vastly different language than a laser printer (particularly a
postscript laser printer, do you know if yours speaks postscript?)
and thus wouldn't necessarily display the same issues as a laser,
even when used on the same system for the same purpose.

>
>I tried to search the forum but did not see any discussion that would
>help. If anyone has any ideas I would appreciate any help.

This is almost certainly nothing to do with WordPerfect, but is more
likely a printer driver issue. Try the following:

1. Print multiple copies of something from an app other than
WordPerfect. Try both a classic and an OS X native app. Do either of
those work?
2. Check Samsung's web site for an updated driver (I know you said
"all software is up-to-date"; maybe you didn't think to check this,
but maybe you did already). Did that help?

Greg Sigman

--- In wordperfectmac@yahoogroups.com, "Randy B. Singer" <randy@...> wrote:
>
>
> On May 2, 2007, at 7:09 AM, chumknee wrote:
>
> > I just purchased the Samsung ML-2510 laser printer and I am using
> > Tiger
>
> Which printer driver are you using?
> One that came with your Samsung?  (If so, what is it called and what
> version number?  Did it come on a CD-ROM or did you download it from
> Samsung's web site?)
> One that was built-in to OS X?
> Or a Gimp-Print driver?

Or the LaserWriter 8 driver (which Apple recommends for Classic
printing in Tiger)?

John R.

I am using an Intel based Mac, and now can't use my old Mac version of
Amicus Attorney. However, I downloaded Sheepshaver to my new Mac so I
could use my old Amicus version. At the moment, I can't seem to figure out
how to get the Amicus program onto Sheepshaver so I can use it.

Does anyone know where I should put the application to get Sheepshaver to
see it?

--- In wordperfectmac@yahoogroups.com, bradsni <no_reply@...> wrote:
>
> I am using an Intel based Mac, and now can't use my old Mac version of
> Amicus Attorney. However, I downloaded Sheepshaver to my new Mac so I
> could use my old Amicus version. At the moment, I can't seem to figure out
> how to get the Amicus program onto Sheepshaver so I can use it.
>
> Does anyone know where I should put the application to get Sheepshaver to
> see it?
>

If you downloaded SS-WP.zip, you have the 500 Mb Sheepshaver.dmg. file. That's a
regular
disk image that you can mount in OS X on your Intel Mac.  Copy the installer
from the CD
of Amicus  Attorney to the disk image.

Eject (unmount) the disk image.

Start up Sheepshaver. Your Amicus Attorney installer will be at the root level
of your virtual
hard disk. Click on it to install.

(I admit that I never heard of Amicus Attorney before your post, but there's
only so many
ways to install a program!)

http://blogs.sun.com/GullFOSS/entry/sun_microsystems_engineering_joins_porting

Thursday, 03 May 2007
Philipp Lohmann

I'm excited to let you all know that as of now Sun engineering will add its
support to the
ongoing Mac/Aqua porting effort.

The MacOSX porting history is basically as old as OpenOffice.org itself.
Practically from the
start there was the plan to have a native version for Mac, however as a first
step the
community decided to produce an X11 port which - since OOo already had several
X11
ports from the start - seemed to be a good way to get a version quickly as
temporary
solution. As usual the "temporary solution" tended to be quite long lived (year
2000 bug
anyone :-) ?).

You can imagine my excitement when I first heard about renewed efforts to make
an Aqua
port reality. And now finally I can spend my paid time to add to this great
effort. At first
Herbert Dürr and I will contribute to the Mac port, however there certainly will
be other Sun
developers involved in their areas of expertise when the need arises (e.g. when
problems
with the build system arise).

Some may ask: Why is Sun joining the Mac porting project? If you look around at
conferences and airport lounges, you will notice that more and more people are 
using
Apple notebooks these days. Apple has a significant market share in the desktop
space.
We are supporting this port because of the interest and activity of the
community wanting
this port. The new invigorated effort in Mac/Aqua-porting (basically since CWS
aquavcl01)
is an obvious indicator. I think this is the right way to go to make OOo on Mac
as good as
or even better than the other ports. Add in the growing Mac community as a whole
and
suddenly from Sun's point of view Mac has a higher value since our strategy is
to be multi-
platform capable.

MacOSX and Aqua are quite new to me, so please bear with me as I learn about
this (for
me) exciting new platform at first. Certainly I will have many questions for my
fellow Mac
porters. However I can contribute  ~10 years experience with vcl which I think
the port can
benefit from.

How do we want to proceed ? At first Herbert and me will try to get an overview
about the
current state  of the work, which already has quite a lot of functionality
thanks to the great
work of  the active Mac porters. I imagine that event handling and painting
should be our
first objective; Herbert specializes in Text drawing via SalLayout
implementations and I will
have a look at paint handling at first which I have heard on the mailing list
needs to be
improved and adapted to the specialties of the Mac platform and will need some
support
from the system independent layer of vcl (painting should be done mostly inside
the paint
handler). After that I could imagine that input needs to be improved e.g. for
internationalized input as in input methods.

Let's make this port a great success !

Just curious how this will relate to NeoOffice. That already seems like
a pretty darned good OX-X port to me.

-doug

John Rethorst wrote:
> http://blogs.sun.com/GullFOSS/entry/sun_microsystems_engineering_joins_porting
>
> Thursday, 03 May 2007
> Philipp Lohmann
>
> I'm excited to let you all know that as of now Sun engineering will add its
support to the
> ongoing Mac/Aqua porting effort.
>
<snip>

On May 5, 2007, at 10:29 AM, Douglas Bouley wrote:

> Just curious how this will relate to NeoOffice. That already seems
> like
> a pretty darned good OX-X port to me.

The lastest version of NeoOffice is impressive.  But it is a JAVA
port designed to run under OS X.  There is nothing wrong with that,
but one assumes that the OOO port of Open Office will be Cocoa-based
and that it will run faster and have access to more of OS X's
underlying features.

___________________________________________
Randy B. Singer
Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions)

Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html
___________________________________________

Could someone please explain (in Computer 101 language) what "Mac porting" is
and whether it would have any relevance for me, a non-user of Open Office and
NewOffice.

Thanks,
Ruth R.


**************************************
  See what's free at
http://www.aol.com.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

That makes sense. Thanks, Randy.

-d

Randy B. Singer wrote:
> On May 5, 2007, at 10:29 AM, Douglas Bouley wrote:
>
>
>> Just curious how this will relate to NeoOffice. That already seems
>> like
>> a pretty darned good OX-X port to me.
>>
>
> The lastest version of NeoOffice is impressive.  But it is a JAVA
> port designed to run under OS X.  There is nothing wrong with that,
> but one assumes that the OOO port of Open Office will be Cocoa-based
> and that it will run faster and have access to more of OS X's
> underlying features.
>
> ___________________________________________
> Randy B. Singer
> Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions)
>
> Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
> http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html
> ___________________________________________
>
>
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

--- In wordperfectmac@yahoogroups.com, RBRoufberg@... wrote:
>
> Could someone please explain (in Computer 101 language) what "Mac
porting" is
> and whether it would have any relevance for me, a non-user of Open
Office and
> NewOffice.
>
> Thanks,
> Ruth R.

"Porting" means in effect translating; turning a program that runs on
one platform (e.g. Windows) into a form that it runs on another (e.g.
Mac OS X.)

There is already, I think, a Unix based OpenOffice that can run on Mac
OS X; but it isn't a fully Mac-like experience, using the Aqua
windowing and menu system. NeoOffice may already provide this, I
simply don't know; but it may also be Java-based. A standard Mac OS X
based OpenOffice does not seem to exist yet. The announcement is that
Sun Microsystems is going to work on one. This is a good development
for people who need to work with Microsoft Office documents, but who
do not have MS Office.

(I replied only to provide help with "porting"; I have never used
OpenOffice or NeoOffice in any form. Please correct all mistakes with
respect to those programs.)

David Derbes
U of Chicago Lab Schools
>
>
> **************************************
>  See what's free at
> http://www.aol.com.
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

On May 5, 2007, at 12:40 PM, RBRoufberg@... wrote:

> Could someone please explain (in Computer 101 language) what "Mac
> porting" is

In the simplest terms, it means bringing a non-Macintosh application
to the Macintosh.

According to Wikipedia:
"The process of re-writing software so as to make it compatible with
other operating system and/or hardware architectures."

See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porting

> and whether it would have any relevance for me, a non-user of Open
> Office and
> NewOffice.

If you never intend to use OpenOffice, NeoOffice or their
derivatives, it has no relevance to you.

However, if you want a free, modern, and enthusiastically supported
(by the open source community) alternative to Microsoft Office, then
Sun's involvement towards bringing you that is quite important.  The
NeoOffice folks have done an admirable job of providing this sort of
office suite application for the Macintosh *now*, but with Sun's help
the OOO folks can quickly create and offer a much more advanced and
polished product.

While an OpenOffice product ported to the Macintosh may not be as
advanced as WordPerfect/Mac (and may never be), it can also offer
some features that you may never see as part of the discontinued
WordPerfect/Mac, such as the ability to read and save to the Open
Document and Open XML formats.  (One or both of these file formats
may very soon become the defacto standard(s) for word processing
files in business.)  For this reason, and because OpenOffice can read
WP files, a ported version of OpenOffice might even be a great
accompaniment to WordPerfect/Mac.

___________________________________________
Randy B. Singer
Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions)

Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html
___________________________________________

Great news. Now, if only this could convince Corel to port their (much
better) suite on the Mac...

Paolo

The 2 versions currently available for OS X are OpenOffice 2.2 &
NeoOffice 2.1. They are both very good programs. Nice, stable,
usable, & have the best Micro$oft compatibility of any Office apps
on the Mac. OpenOffice requires X11, NeoOffice 2.1 runs on java.
NeoOffice in particular has shown much improvement over the
past year or so, now it is stable & quite nice, & launches almost as
fast as the M$ programs.

I am so happy to hear increased activity on the OS X native port!
That will really be nice, to have a real OS X version at last! Will it be
cocoa?

There are so many great things available to Mac programs, like
scripting, the services menu, proper integration with other apps &
OS features, etc. And the cocoa text editing system is an incredibly
awesome thing that has no rival in the computing world.

Here are a couple of interesting links about cocoa & text
http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~jrus/site/cocoa-text.html
http://www.musingsfrommars.org/2007/03/using-text-edit-as-html-editor.html

Craig

On Sat May 5, 2007 6:01 pm, "Randy B. Singer" <randy@...> wrote:
>On May 5, 2007, at 10:29 AM, Douglas Bouley wrote:
>
>>  Just curious how this will relate to NeoOffice. That already seems
>>  like a pretty darned good OX-X port to me.
>
>The lastest version of NeoOffice is impressive. But it is a JAVA
>port designed to run under OS X. There is nothing wrong with that,
>but one assumes that the OOO port of Open Office will be Cocoa-based
>and that it will run faster and have access to more of OS X's
>underlying features.

In particular, NeoOffice, which I use frequently (albeit in a limited
way) has no support for AppleScript, which I also use frequently. A
Cocoa-based port of OO will automatically have at least some generic
AppleScript support, with the possibility for more specific support
as well. --Jonathan

On May 6, 2007, at 5:47 AM, Paolo Tramannoni wrote:

> Great news. Now, if only this could convince Corel to port their (much
> better) suite on the Mac...

You might want to write to Corel and point out this entire turn of
events to them.

___________________________________________
Randy B. Singer
Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions)

Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html
___________________________________________

Many years after we began using WP, a problem has suddenly appeared.
On 2 of our iMacs using 8.6, spell-check pops up a window asking for
us to find "Dictionary (USA)". Once it does that, its a loop. Any
folder we check (with one exception) shows empty. We cannot cancel the
window and return to the document. A Force Quit is the only way out.

The one folder that shows any content is the WP application folder,
Language folder. When that is opened, it will show the file
"Dictionary (CAN)" - yes, there is a Canadian Dictionary - but
attempting to select it freezes WP. Again, only way out is a Force
Quit. We do not have a Dictionary USA and haven't since we began using
  WP in 1991.

The program may have done a dozen spell-checks that day already before
the problem shows up. It usually does one or two entries in that
particular document, which are dealt with by Ignore, before it goes
bad. When the Speller window comes up, it properly identifies
"Dictionary (CAN)" as checked under the Dictionary menu.

I have trashed the WP preferences, rebuilt the desk top, run First Aid
and looked at all the codes - nothing wrong and nothing odd.

The documents are letter templates so they have our lettehead on them.
the problem does not usually show up until the Speller has moved into
the text below the letterhead (which will have just been added by the
secretary). But I can re-open the document, copy the text and paste it
into a new document and run spell-check with no problem.

If anybody has any ideas they would be greatly appreciated.

Barney

On 2007-0509 12:42-0400, bcqc2003 wrote:

> Many years after we began using WP, a problem has suddenly appeared.
> On 2 of our iMacs using 8.6, spell-check pops up a window asking for
> us to find "Dictionary (USA)". Once it does that, its a loop. [...]
> The documents are letter templates so they have our lettehead on them.

Any macros in your letter template?
Do you have - have you ever had - a "Dictionary (USA)", or just "Dictionary
(CAN)"?
--
John

John asked...

>On 2007-0509 12:42-0400, bcqc2003 wrote:
>
>>  Many years after we began using WP, a problem has suddenly appeared.
>>  On 2 of our iMacs using 8.6, spell-check pops up a window asking for
>>  us to find "Dictionary (USA)". Once it does that, its a loop. [...]
>>  The documents are letter templates so they have our lettehead on them.
>
>Any macros in your letter template?

No, unless the "Auto Date" feature would be classified as a macro.

>Do you have - have you ever had - a "Dictionary (USA)", or just "Dictionary
>(CAN)"?

I don't think we have ever had a Dictionary (USA). I just took a look
around the office and I am surprised by the fact that some of the
Language folders have more files than others. Some of them have files
named "History (USA)" and "Morphology (USA)" - but nothing similar in
(CAN) - and others do not. But no Dictionary USA.

I now have a Dictionary USA in the office. Another list subscriber
just sent me one (and related files) from his version  - OS 9.2 under
OSX 10.4.9 (thanks again Gabe). I am waiting to see if the problem
can be solved without installing them - we got by on 8 or so machines
doing word processing 5 business days a week for about 13 years using
Dictionary (CAN) before this showed up. I hate to change without
knowing why. Stubborn, I guess.

Barney



>--
>John

You could try scrapping preferences and seeing if that resolves the issue.

Geoff

>John asked...
>
>>On 2007-0509 12:42-0400, bcqc2003 wrote:
>>
>>>   Many years after we began using WP, a problem has suddenly appeared.
>>>   On 2 of our iMacs using 8.6, spell-check pops up a window asking for
>>>   us to find "Dictionary (USA)". Once it does that, its a loop. [...]
>>>   The documents are letter templates so they have our lettehead on them.
>>
>>Any macros in your letter template?
>
>No, unless the "Auto Date" feature would be classified as a macro.
>
>>Do you have - have you ever had - a "Dictionary (USA)", or just "Dictionary
>>(CAN)"?
>
>I don't think we have ever had a Dictionary (USA). I just took a look
>around the office and I am surprised by the fact that some of the
>Language folders have more files than others. Some of them have files
>named "History (USA)" and "Morphology (USA)" - but nothing similar in
>(CAN) - and others do not. But no Dictionary USA.
>
>I now have a Dictionary USA in the office. Another list subscriber
>just sent me one (and related files) from his version  - OS 9.2 under
>OSX 10.4.9 (thanks again Gabe). I am waiting to see if the problem
>can be solved without installing them - we got by on 8 or so machines
>doing word processing 5 business days a week for about 13 years using
>Dictionary (CAN) before this showed up. I hate to change without
>knowing why. Stubborn, I guess.
>
>Barney
>
>
>
>>--
>>John
>
>
>
>Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>

I once had a similar problem with spell check that I ultimately
tracked down to having more than one dictionary. Look around your
troubled machine for extra dictionaries -- either in the applications
folder, or hiding in individual user's folders -- especially look for
dictionaries that might be in global vs. user-restricted areas. If WP
identifies a dictionary that's not the one you think it's using, or
not the one in the usual places, this loop problem seems to arise.
Steve



--- In wordperfectmac@yahoogroups.com, "bcqc2003" <bchristianson@...>
wrote:
>
> Many years after we began using WP, a problem has suddenly appeared.
> On 2 of our iMacs using 8.6, spell-check pops up a window asking for
> us to find "Dictionary (USA)". Once it does that, its a loop. Any
> folder we check (with one exception) shows empty. We cannot cancel the
> window and return to the document. A Force Quit is the only way out.
>
> The one folder that shows any content is the WP application folder,
> Language folder. When that is opened, it will show the file
> "Dictionary (CAN)" - yes, there is a Canadian Dictionary - but
> attempting to select it freezes WP. Again, only way out is a Force
> Quit. We do not have a Dictionary USA and haven't since we began using
>  WP in 1991.
>
> The program may have done a dozen spell-checks that day already before
> the problem shows up. It usually does one or two entries in that
> particular document, which are dealt with by Ignore, before it goes
> bad. When the Speller window comes up, it properly identifies
> "Dictionary (CAN)" as checked under the Dictionary menu.
>
> I have trashed the WP preferences, rebuilt the desk top, run First Aid
> and looked at all the codes - nothing wrong and nothing odd.
>
> The documents are letter templates so they have our lettehead on them.
> the problem does not usually show up until the Speller has moved into
> the text below the letterhead (which will have just been added by the
> secretary). But I can re-open the document, copy the text and paste it
> into a new document and run spell-check with no problem.
>
> If anybody has any ideas they would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Barney
>

It's for sale now, although not all the new features are complete yet.
See http://geniesoft.com.

Outside of elegance and speed, it's just gorgeous. Set the score
background to parchment, main window background to indigo blue,
and window panels (i.e. trim) to redwood, and you'll never want to
leave.

The non-OT part of this is that the only other programs I've seen
with interfaces approaching it are WP and MacWrite Pro. I'm told
Framemaker is nice, but I've never seen it. BTW that's another
program abandoned by its publisher in Classic, with nothing as good
for the purpose in OSX, that is finding a second life (no relation to
http://secondlife.com) with SheepShaver.

I think interface contributes substantially to the quality of the user
experience and thus to quality of output. Why don't more software
publishers realize this? Or do they, and are just not able to design
a good one?

John R.


--- In wordperfectmac@yahoogroups.com, Doug Auwarter <dauwarter@...> wrote:
>
> Hey John,
> I'd like to contact you off-list about this (Overture). Could you
> give me your e-mail address? No biggie - I just don't want to muddle
> up things on this list with a bunch of Off-Topic posts.
> Thanks,
> Doug
> dauwarter@...
>
> On Apr 23, 2007, at 9:33 PM, John Rethorst wrote:
>
> > I'm giving a little bit of help to the developers of a music
> > notation program, Overture, as they ready Mac version
> > 4 for release.
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

WP user Gabriel Fuentes has created a set of folders for program
components with some very nice-looking OSX-quality icons. The
set includes:

WordPerfect folder
User Guides folder
Templates
QuickTasks
Language
WP Files folder
Help
Drag-and-drop
Documentation
Conversions
WP_Upgrades folder
WP-Extras folder

The last two are drop folders, i.e. the icon changes momentarily
when you drop something on it.

These are free in the Files section here, as "WP Folders.sit".

Thanks Gabriel!
John R.

I am REALLY sorry for the delay--got caught up in a
sudden work deadline.

When I go up toFileand click on Page Setup, it says
LaserWriter 8 Page setup-8.7.3. I am using Tiger OS.

IHooked up another printer-a new Canon IP6700D, it is
doing the same thing.

This is an area I don't know much about, so I do not
know if I should look for something else-or where that
"something" is located.

Thanks so much for your patience.

Jenny

Hi,  I've been using WP/SS for about a month now on my new Intel
MacBook Pro and I'm very pleased to be able to use WPe again.

Can anyone tell me if there is a way to be able to increase the size
of the SS Volume disk image to about say, 1GB, using some sort of
disk utility?  I'm fairly new to OS X and don't know all the intricate
'tricks'.  I've tried using Disk Utility that comes with OS X but there
does not seem to be a way to do this.  Other than wanting to run a
few other Classic apps, I'd like to upgrade to OS 8.6 from the OS 7.5
that came with SS.  I've done a search on past posts on this and
similar topics but nothing came up.  Any tips, pointers, and
comments will be most appreciated.

Regards,
Bill Cheb

Jenny

How are you connecting to the printer - ethernet or USB. I have the
same problem with a network printer when using LaserWriter 8. If I
want multiple copies of a WP file via the network printer rather than
my USB one, I print to pdf first and then print that via Preview from
OSX or some similar combination of OSX appas.

Geoff

>I am REALLY sorry for the delay--got caught up in a
>sudden work deadline.
>
>When I go up toFileand click on Page Setup, it says
>LaserWriter 8 Page setup-8.7.3. I am using Tiger OS.
>
>IHooked up another printer-a new Canon IP6700D, it is
>doing the same thing.
>
>This is an area I don't know much about, so I do not
>know if I should look for something else-or where that
>"something" is located.
>
>Thanks so much for your patience.
>
>Jenny
>
>
>
>Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>

On Fri May 11, 2007 7:02 pm (PDT), "rifetube" <bcheb@...> wrote:

>Can anyone tell me if there is a way to be able to increase the size
>of the SS Volume disk image to about say, 1GB, using some sort of
>disk utility?

There is a way to do this from the command line, but it requires that
the disk image have been set up with this idea in mind, AIUI.  An
image over 50 MB may be auto-stretchable, but I'm not sure, nor up to
what size you can stretch it if it is.

hdiutil create -stretch [size] -size [size] [other creation options]
nameofimage
hdituil resize [size] nameofimage

See the manpage for hdiutil for more.

It might just be easiest to make a new larger image and clone/copy
everything across from John R's image....

Smokey

A current thread on Usenet concerns the practice of
emailing information in MS Word format, or posting
documents on the web in that format, on the assumption
that everyone can read it. A post suggests this reply:

"You have sent me a text file as a Microsoft Word
attachment which I have deleted. Because my mail is read
from a variety of machines both while travelling and at
various places of work, I do not always have access to MS
Word, nor do I use MS Word on a daily basis and the version
of MS Word I do have is probably hopelessly out of date and
incompatible with your document anyway. By attaching a
message that could have been inserted into your mail as
plain text using simple cut-and-paste, you are forcing me
to save, decode and move your message to a different
machine which is a labourious and time-consuming procedure.
It also forces me involuntarily to expose the other machine
to potential viruses both binary and macro, which is
unecessary and inconsiderate.

If you feel that your document has formatting which is
essential for my understanding, kindly save it as html, XML
or RTF before sending. Otherwise, plain text is also an
open and free standard potentially rich in both grammar and
syntax.

Do not construe this notice as an unwillingness to read
your message on my part. It is an expression of solidarity
with other users who don't know what to do with attachments
and are too embarrassed to say so. A protest against a
monopolizing industry that is trying to brow-beat us into
submission to proprietory standards, user-unfriendliness,
arrogance of power and greedy pricing. And an effort on my
part to spend less time moving files and more time doing
something useful.

I apologize if this is an inconvenience to you, but unless
you feel that your message is important enough to convey in
a simpler and more readable fashion it must be considered
unread."

John R.

I realize that this is a WordPerfect/Mac list, and like the other
members of this list I am very fond of, and even enthusiastic about,
WordPerfect/Mac. (Though I switched to Word a few years after Corel
abandoned WP/Mac as a matter of expedience.)   But I usually find
Microsoft Word bashing to be mostly based on fallacious premises, and
I feel compelled, as a Word user, to point this out.

(I can't argue with hatred for Microsoft, and I wholeheartedly agree
that Microsoft deserves to be hated.  But some of us have to use the
best tools available to us for our businesses, and so, as a matter of
practicality, use Word as the only high-end word processor for the
Mac that is still actively being sold and supported.)

On May 12, 2007, at 2:32 PM, John Rethorst wrote:

> A current thread on Usenet concerns the practice of
> emailing information in MS Word format, or posting
> documents on the web in that format, on the assumption
> that everyone can read it.

I've seen this discussed on a couple of Mac discussion lists.  The
actual discussions that I've seen don't necessarily support what you
have cited.

> A post suggests this reply:
>
> "You have sent me a text file as a Microsoft Word
> attachment which I have deleted.

Not everyone can afford to do this.  If you have a job, the Word file
format is the de facto (like it or not) file format for word
processing documents.  It isn't practical, or wise, to delete files
that you receive from co-workers or others associated with your
business.  At least not if you want to remain employed.

> Because my mail is read
> from a variety of machines both while travelling and at
> various places of work, I do not always have access to MS
> Word, nor do I use MS Word on a daily basis

Just about every single modern word processor has Word translators.
AppleWorks or Pages come with/came with many new Macs.  Both do a
nice job of opening Word files.  You can even open Word files nicely
in lowly TextEdit, which comes with OS X.

If you prefer, you can open Word files in icWord, an inexpensive
shareware program that does an excellent job.
http://www.panergy-software.com/products/icWord/

You aren't forced to own Word, or any Microsoft product, to read Word
files sent to you.  In most cases you aren't even forced to purchase
anything extra beyond what you already have.

In short, there is no excuse not to be able to open a Word file that
you receive.  As I said above, it is a de facto standard, so everyone
supports it.

(As a side note, WordPerfect/Mac always did only a fair to poor job
of opening Word format files, even when DataViz's translators were
included, and I believe that this contributed strongly to its demise.)

> and the version
> of MS Word I do have is probably hopelessly out of date and
> incompatible with your document anyway.

Lots of folks who don't use Word like to go around saying that
Microsoft changes the file format for Word with every version.  Not
only is that not true, but the truth is that Microsoft has gone out
of its way to ensure backwards and forwards file compatibility.

Word has had essentially the same basic file format for the past
three versions of the program.  Files from previous versions open
just fine in even the latest version.  *And* Microsoft has
consistently offered translators to allow older versions of Word to
open files from newer versions.

For instance, here is a plug-in, provided for free from Microsoft,
to allow Word 5.1 to read Word documents created by newer versions of
Word:

<http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.aspx?pid=download&location=/
mac/download/office98/
word_97982000_convert.xml&secid=20&ssid=8&flgnosysreq=False>

Lots of folks still use Word 5.1(a program from well over a decade
ago) effectively, with no file format problems when sharing files
with others.

The recently introduced Word file format (so far Windows only, but
soon to come to the Mac), based on XML, OpenXML/Doc-X, is not
proprietary.  It is an  ISO-certified open format.  Everyone has
access to the format''s complete specifications, so any developer can
create perfect translators or use this file format in their product.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/HA102057841033.aspx

And while Microsoft hasn't provided translators yet for the Mac
version of Word for Doc-X, there are already translators available
from third parties, some of which are free.

> By attaching a
> message that could have been inserted into your mail as
> plain text using simple cut-and-paste,

It's true that if you are writing a short e-mail message that
requires no formatting, plain text in the body of the message is the
way to go.  This has nothing to do with MS Word, it is just a matter
of netiquette and common sense.

However, if you are sending folks a document that requires complex
formatting, a word processing document sent as a file attachment is
the way to go, and the Word file format is the lingua franka of the
business world, like it or not.

> you are forcing me
> to save, decode and move your message to a different
> machine which is a labourious and time-consuming procedure.

This is pure BS.  As I outlined above, its dead easy to find/keep
something on your computer, laptop or not, that will open Word files.

> It also forces me involuntarily to expose the other machine
> to potential viruses both binary and macro, which is
> unecessary and inconsiderate.

I don't know of any non-macro viruses that can infect Word files.  I
don't think that there are any.  This is pure FUD.  (Fear,
Uncertainty and Doubt.)

While there are literally hundreds of macro viruses for Word, some of
which are cross-platform, it is dead easy to avoid being infected by
them.  Just enable Macro Virus Protection in Preferences in Word.
More FUD.

> If you feel that your document has formatting which is
> essential for my understanding, kindly save it as html, XML
> or RTF before sending.

HTML is not a reliable format for documents (witness how much trouble
a good Webmaster has to go through to make sure that his/her site
will render properly for as many visitors as possible), and it is not
as feature-rich as most word processing formats.

RTF is just another, less robust, Microsoft format.  Chances are
excellent that if you have something that can handle an RTF file that
it can also handle a Word file just as well.

XML is only now becoming popular, and its implementations vary
considerably.  It is disingenuous to complain about receiving Word
files because you can't find something to open them, and then turn
around and ask for files in XML format.  Who is currently using XML-
based word processors and what do you have that will open various XML
files reliably?


I believe that this all originated with this piece:
<http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html>
I think that the Stallman piece is simply a propaganda piece, and it
contains a large number of severe inaccuracies. (Lies?)

If you hate Microsoft I think that  you should just be honest and
come out and say so.  If you want to organize a boycott of
Microsoft's products because you hate Microsoft, do it.  I can
respect both of these things.  But spreading lies and FUD isn't
honorable, and, frankly, makes someone like Stallman no better than
Microsoft.

Ultimately, if you want to get people to stop using Word and the Word
file format, you will have to offer them a better alternative.  I
think that Mac users should spend their time writing to Corel,
encouraging them to bring back WP/Mac (and the new version should
support an open-standard XML-based file format), rather than lower
themselves by spreading FUD about Word.

___________________________________________
Randy B. Singer
Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions)

Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html
___________________________________________