Geoffrey,
The last "stable" version of MS Word was 6.0. (and the best-ever
version of Windows for stability was Windows NT, jump on me as you
will for saying that). Since then, the problems that can cause
instability, including document corruption and formatting
'breaking', have only gotten worse, including 2007 (I don't yet
have a good understanding of 2010, but it's odds on that it is no
better than 2007).
In addition, Microsoft has, since Word v6.0, with each new
edition, progressively removed the ability to use the keyboard,
leaving the option to either lose productivity (my personal view)
by having to use a mouse or touchpad, or having to customise Word
to create hotkeys to replace the previous keyboard functionality.
Word continues to get more and more "user friendly" and less
productive ...
However, Microsoft does not, and never has, promoted MS Word as a
professional document authoring tool. The problems you refer to,
which I deal with as a regular part of my documentation work, are
VERY unlikely to ever occur in a simple Church, or Parents and Citizens, newsletter
or in a simple commercial business report.
The reason that so many of us have to use MS Word is simply
because that's what our clients use (which I am sure you
understand, but just to cover it here). If we wanted to use a
specialist word processing / desktop publishing package that
didn't have the instability problems that Word has (including
autonumbering!), then we'd all be using FrameMaker,
Interleaf/QuickSilver, GNU TeXmacs, LibreOffice (with
reservations), etc. ... BUT, then we'd have the problem that our
clients wouldn't be able to, or wouldn't want to, work with the
documents we have created, and it is often part of the job specs
that what we leave behind has to be able to be maintained by the
client.
At the same time, yes, it is frustrating to work with software
that doesn't do what it is 'advertised' to do / what we want it
to, but let's not restrict that plaint to just Microsoft. Why does
Adobe software not always work correctly / as we want it to (as
per posts made this year to the Austechwriter list?) Why, when we
open a Word document in LibreOffice, does it not recognise page
numbers that include the section (chapter) number and why, when we
export that document from LibreOffice to PDF, do the page breaks
not align to the original Word document? Why does Firefox not have
a currently-supported Australian dictionary? Why does Thunderbird
not allow me to explicitly define the point size of text in emails
I create? (And so on.) And why, when I go to an investment
adviser, do I get advice that will earn that person a large
commission irrespective of whether the investment proposition is a
good one for me or not? (Oops ... sorry, wrong forum, easy to get
carried away.)
Everything you have said in your post is valid. But if we don't
like Sony we buy Panasonic or Philips. If we don't like Holden
(how could anyone not like Holden?), we buy Ford or Toyota. When I
need to work on-site, however, I don't get a chance to choose what
type of security card I'll use to gain access to the building.
Neither to I get the chance to choose what word processing
software I'll be using for a client's manuals.
It would be nice, however, in a perfect world, to have software
licences and consumer protection laws that give us due and just
recourse if the software doesn't work as advertised, or is
otherwise not fit for purpose. My best suggestion for getting that
to happen (i.e. a fighting the good fight for a hopeless cause) is
to send off a quick mail to greens@xxxxxxxxxxxxx – Bob seems to be
looking for extra crusades to fight at the moment!
Cheers,
Neil.
On 17/07/2011 8:57 PM, Geoffrey Marnell wrote:
Many
thanks to everyone who responded to my cry for help. It
appears that my original document had numerous swollen lymph
glands caused by many cancerous graphics-related
corruptions.
What this exercise has shown me yet again is how
extraordinarily accepting many of us in the technical
writing profession are of the structural weaknesses in yet
another version MS Word, the tool most of us use most of our
time to earn our living. (X has failed because MS Word can’t
handle manual formatting; Y has failed because MS Word is
not good at handling floating graphics. Z has failed because
of … some feature that we were sold on but, alas, doesn’t
work as advertised.)
Crikey,
If TEAC, Sony or LG advertises a feature of, say, a PVR and
that feature doesn’t work, don’t we feel— nay, know—that we
can take that PVR back to the retailer and get our money
back? Why do we accept first-level software that doesn’t
work as advertised (MS Word, for example) and not
second-level software (the software, for instance, that sits
behind a PVR or a set-top box)? Why aren’t we more
rebellious?
I’m
getting tired of having to continually upgrade our MS
products to match the software our clients have upgraded
to, only to spend eras of unpaid time trying to work out
what aberrant tumours Microsoft has left gnawing away at its
supposedly saleable code.
Isn’t
it time we started to expect, to demand, that the implied
warrant of merchantability that applies to all other
retailable products—cars, couches, coffee-makers and the
like—applied to software as well?
In a
word: why do we put up with it?
Cheers-less
Geoffrey Marnell
Principal Consultant
Abelard Consulting Pty Ltd
T: +61 3 9596 3456
F: +61 3 9596 3625
M: 0419 574 668
W: www.abelard.com.au
Skype:
geoffrey.marnell
Hi
Geoff,
Just
to also throw in my tuppence ‘alfpenny, I don’t know how
large your document is but have you tried to ‘select all’
and then remove all formatting?
Just
a thought.
Cheers,
Bruce
I
took your advice Janine. The file opened and then, when
started to scroll to page 2, it crashed yet again.
Grrr
squared
Geoffrey Marnell
Principal Consultant
Abelard Consulting Pty Ltd
T: +61 3 9596 3456
F: +61 3 9596 3625
M: 0419 574 668
W: www.abelard.com.au
Skype:
geoffrey.marnell
Hi
Geoffrey
Why
not do an “Open and Repair” from dropdown “Open” Open and
Repair. Ctrl O (File Open) in 2010.
Janine
Hi austechies
I have change-tracking turned on and, after
every change I make to a document, Word 2010 tells me it has
encountered a serious error and has to close. Yes, after every
single change. It’s driving me batty.
Has any else had this problem and knows of
a workaround?
Cheers
Geoffrey
Marnell
Principal
Consultant
Abelard
Consulting Pty Ltd
T:
+61 3 9596 3456
F:
+61 3 9596 3625
M:
0419 574 668
W: www.abelard.com.au
Skype:
geoffrey.marnell
No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 10.0.1390 / Virus Database: 1516/3768 - Release Date:
07/16/11
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