[u3aavcuss] Open Office Docs

From: Ron & Rosemary M - U3A <ronandrosemary62-u3a@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Comp Users GroupU3A <u3aavcuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 11 Sep 2011 18:31:53 +0100 (BST)
Dear Shirley and all,

Further to Mike's suggestion re opening Word documents in Open Office and just 
to add a little bit of extra interest for everyone else! 

Earlier versions of Microsoft Word saved documents as .doc files and from Word 
2007 onwards as .docx files, (that is the extension after the dot). Normally 
you would not notice the change unless you sent a new .docx file to someone 
using earlier versions of Word when the recipient would ask you to resend the 
document saved in the old version as a .doc file.

The problem with this system, as it belongs specifically to Microsoft (with all 
the attendant costs), it was not compatible with other manufacturers and the 
rights belonged to Microsoft. To get round Microsoft's domination of office 
software a number of companies set up the Open Office Organisation providing 
free (to the user) office software based on Sun Microsystems patents. This was 
financially supported by such eminent organisations as NATO and the European 
Union with the intention of ensuring that open formats will guarantee access to 
files without legal or technical barriers. This and the cost is why Bucks 
County Council use Open Office.

Open Office (V 1.0 was released in 2002) is much like Microsoft Office without 
the frills. Most people would be quite happy to use Open Office which you can 
download free to the individual from www.openoffice.org and I guess there are a 
number of U3A members using it. One I can think of was Jim McKay. However most 
new computers come preloaded with some version of Microsoft software and the 
public seem to go along with this, me included.

Open Office has always been compatible with Microsoft Office and visa versa 
except that some of the formatting may not work properly and you do need the 
latest version 3.0 to open Word .docx directly, this is probably why BCC could 
not open Shirley's script. As far as I can see Open Office V 3.0 was available 
to the public in 2009 (it's now V 3.30) so it does rather stretch the 
imagination (bearing in mind it is free) that BCC must still be using an older 
version that will not open Word .docx directly.

Having waffled on with all the historic stuff I would like to offer another 
practical solution to Shirley's and other people's similar problems. Why not 
save your file in PDF  format? Just about everyone that matters can open a .pdf 
file and you can make a PDF in Microsoft Word 2007 onwards and in Open 
Office.  It also has the distinct advantage that because it is effectively a 
picture of your document all the formatting remains intact for display and 
printing. It is also rather difficult for the recipient to alter the content 
(heaven forbid they would)! To make a .pdf file from Word - Save As - and click 
down to PDF. You can send your newly made .pdf file as an attachment in exactly 
the same way as a Word document. This would probably be good practice for 
things like minutes and accounts.

There is an interesting article published in the Guardian in 2007 that some 
might like to read, otherwise both Open Office Org and Wikipedia are full of 
info. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/jun/21/comment.comment1

You can tell I have nothing better to do this afternoon!


Bye Ron
[u3aavcuss] Open Office Docs

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