[OS X TeX] Re: Worrying about MS (was Keeping this list healthy)

[Alain Schremmer]

Adam Goldstein wrote:

> As the level of quoting in this thread is getting too much for me to 
> follow, 

Hey, another top poster! :-)

> I will summarize: the discussion concerns how PDF and RTF should be 
> described as alternatives to the MS Word document format, since they 
> are proprietary, the key point about their use as opposed to Word 
> being that they are readable and writeable with a range of open source 
> tools. Schremmer (he always signs his posts that way, last name only

Not always, sometimes I sign as schremmer. (Depends on whether I hit or 
miss the shift key.)

> ) asked, what would be an appropriate way to phrase a message asking 
> people to use PDF and RTF rather than MSW, the initial suggestion being:
>
> >
> >
> >
> > PDF or HTML, all non-proprietary formats, before attaching it.
> >
>
> My suggestion at this point is as follows: ". . . save it as RTF, PDF, 
> or HTML, all formats readily created and displayed with no-cost and 
> open-source tools, before attaching it."
>
> Or probably better still: " . . . save it as RTF 

Why only RTF? On the Mac, at least, saving as PDF is done via the Print 
dialog box. How is it on Wintel machines? But I would agree about not 
including HTML as I sure don't know how to do it.

So, unless a case is made for HTML, I would entirely agree with:

    It is all the more unacceptable to me as all you needed to do was
    just to copy-paste your document into your email as plain text or,
    should you have felt that its formatting was essential, to save it
    as RTF or PDF before attaching it.

The sentence

> These encodings, whose standards are widely distributed and highly 
> stable, are all readily created and displayed with no-cost, 
> open-source tools.

though sounds a bit, how shall I put it? technical? How about something like

"Both are completely standard and, moreover, just as easily handled with 
free, widely available open-source applications."


Hopeful regards
--schremmer




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