Free Microsoft software compatibility pack

toasterman

I think RTF is smaller if it starts that way. For example I have an RTF file with two pages of text that is 3kb. You don't get Word files that are that small. I've had what you say though - where a Word file balloons massively when saved as RTF. It's when it has pictures or a lot of formatting in it, I think.

Conor_3

Stompa wrote: »

Think yourself lucky, I'm still using Office 97!

Many companies are. Office versions after that offered nothing really worthwhile so many businesses stayed at 97.

MSE_Martin

Just a quick note folks. Of course as pointed out - saving in RTF or another format will make it easier. Yet the advantage of the download pack is when someone sends one to YOU you can open it

jonellbee

Just a generalpint about the docx format that I have heard about in the Guardian newspaper but have not tried myself. The link is this http://technology.guardian.co.uk/online/insideit/story/0,,2107355,00.html
This says that the docx format can be treated as a zipped file. In brief it seems that if you rename it with a .zip ending and then unzip it, one of the several files that appear is one that contains the text of the file. This should allow you to read it at least if you have not got anything better. Maybe this might help sometime
P'raps someone could try it and letus know if it works.

harryhound

I passed on Martin's tip to the younger generation of my family.

Here is a reply from a "20 something" male member, I can share with you:

" "
Annoying but I guess you might as well just download the free patch to
allow you to view the new files.

In another 5 years they will change it again and force you to upgrade!

Of course, if everyone converted their documents to PDF then it would be
much easier.

I use OpenOffice under Linux and it does a reasonable job for simple
word documents. But if it's a "fancy" word document then OpenOffice
often doesn't deal with it very well.

Have you seen GoogleDocs yet? They offer a simple word processing
program through a web interface. You can store all your documents for
free with google too. Quite cool! It's possible that googledocs will eat
away at microsoft office's market share as it gets more sophisticated.

" "

Harry

toasterman

harryhound wrote: »

Have you seen GoogleDocs yet? They offer a simple word processing
program through a web interface. You can store all your documents for
free with google too. Quite cool! It's possible that googledocs will eat
away at microsoft office's market share as it gets more sophisticated.
Harry

I love googledocs. Very very handy.
The whole google-office suite is getting better all the time - there's calendars with reminders you can share between people, you can edit/read documents wherever you are, and when my sister sent a word document to my google mail account, I get the option to open it in googledocs online and/or convert it to the open-standard.

There's also an online spreadsheet facility, and Google have just bought a company that makes online software used for creating slideshow-style presentations....hopefully to be implimented soon.

Take a look if you haven't seen it - at http://docs.google.com

zapster

Hi All,

Does anybody know of a free application like openoffice.org that will open up MS publisher documents.

Thanks
Zapster

Gwenynwyr

zapster wrote: »

Hi All,

Does anybody know of a free application like openoffice.org that will open up MS publisher documents.

Thanks
Zapster

Microsoft have a number of free "reader" programs for most Office applications, e.g. Word, Excel, powerpoint. I don't know if they do one for Publisher, but it would be worth a look.

John B.

sya220

I am literally no good in this field, so please forgive my ignorance.
My PC is on XP and has a built-in Microsoft Works Word Processor. Obviously when I send documents out, they are not being able to be viewed or opened.
Can I download this new Word 2007 software into my computer?
Thank you.

ferdyb

Me not very good either, but I think what you have is just the suite you get for free with most new PCs. 'Works' is not the same as ' Word' of any flavour. Word is much more complicated and costs much money.
I often get Word stuff forwarded to me from people in offices and they usually respond to a touch of 'OpenOffice', but sometimes need a bit of coaxing.