[wplug] Re: MISM mentor program

[Alexandros Papadopoulos]

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On Sunday 09 February 2003 19:47, you wrote:
> Hi Alex
>
> Thanks for registering. Please complete the attached MENTEE
> APPLICATION FORM and send it back to the following email address by
> Friday, Feb 14th
<snip>
> Content-Type: application/msword; name="MISM Mentee Form.doc"
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64

I'm sorry, but I was unable to read the Microsoft Word document you sent 
me. Microsoft has been steadily changing the .doc format over the 
releases of Microsoft Word (4.0, 95, 97, 2000, and now XP). Microsoft 
has also intentionally refused to release the specification of the .doc 
format to the community, making Microsoft Word the only application 
that can reliably open this format. There is the freeware Microsoft 
Word Viewer application, but it only runs on Microsoft Windows 
operating systems and does not allow one to edit the document.

The development team that designed the software I choose to use 
(OpenOffice.org), has tried hard to figure out how the .doc format is 
created and interpreted, in order to make it available to more people. 
They believe that all people should be able to exchange information 
electronically, and .doc is one of the most common formats. So, they 
tried to make OpenOffice.org, the only competitor to Microsoft's own 
Office suite, as compatible as possible with Microsoft's own formats. 
But Microsoft did not like this, because it would mean that people that 
have not bought Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office would be able to 
read and write .doc documents.

Unfortunately, it seems that Microsoft is sometimes successful. My 
non-Microsoft application was unable to open the .doc document you sent 
me. As a result, we cannot exchange information, until one of the 
following happens:

[0] The information intented to be read/processed by me is converted to 
an open format that people who have not purchased Microsoft Windows and 
Microsoft Office are able to process.

[1] I purchase and install Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Word, and by 
deduction all other Microsoft applications necessary to do my work.

Because it will be a cold day in hell before I do the latter, I would 
suggest we find a different way of exchanging information 
electronically.

- -A

PS: I hope you realize that I have nothing against you as a person. I 
just can't use the document you sent me, and I tried to explain why the 
implicit assumption that I would be able to read it, was mistaken.

PPS: When I tried to open the document you sent to me, my word processor 
crashed, obviously unable to properly interpret the .doc format. My 
word processor was handling 4 other documents at the time. Two of them 
were assignments, and all changes I had not saved were lost. On 
aggregate, about two hours of my work were lost because the 
OpenOffice.org developers were not good enough to overcome the barriers 
that Microsoft put in place, and render the document properly. I 
believe they are the last to blame for this failure.

PPPS: For further reasons why .doc should not be the format of choice 
when exchanging information electronically, I invite you to read 
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html
It may be long, but it certainly exposes the compromises both you, as 
the sender, and I, as the receiver, are making by exchanging Microsoft 
Word documents.
- -- 
http://andrew.cmu.edu/~apapadop/pub_key.asc
3DAD 8435 DB52 F17B 640F  D78C 8260 0CC1 0B75 8265
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