Advocating FDL University-courses

[xdrudis at tinet.org]

----- Missatge Original -----
De: Tomasz Wegrzanowski <taw at users.sourceforge.net>
Data: Dimarts, Juliol 16, 2002 11:14 am
Assumpte: Re: Advocating FDL University-courses

> IIRC .doc specification is available somewhere. There are obviously
> some minor incompatibilities between standard and Microsoft 
> implementation,but that's true for every other format.
> 

There are incompatibilities between different MS products, let 
alone anyone else's implementations. 

> > But I am sure it connot be edited directly and straightforwardly 
> with generic
> > text editors (as GNU Emacs, Vi or... say Notepad).
> 
> Generic text editors doesn't mean *plain text* editors.

Yes, it does. Formated text, as you call it, is not text, it's 
binary. If you include MS Word in generic text editors, then 
you should include any program at all (MagicPoint, AutoCAD, 
your favourite adventure game). They all include some text 
somewhere in their files (even if only in the highes scores file).
The distinction is there for a reason.


> That would be silly - 99% of population uses WYSYWIG for such things.
> 
99% of population uses WYSIWYG for a typewriter, not for a text editor.

> You can edit it in OpenOffice, AbiWord, KWord and ton of other
> *formatted text* editors.
> 

I've had trouble editing a MS Word file in one of those (plus MS OFfice)
and then looking at it in some other. That's because 

a) Word files are not intended to move from one computer to another, 
let alone, one program to another.

b) the format is not a standard, it's a moving target.

> > Word format is THE archetype of what is an opaque one, specificly 
> designed to
> > trap users' data.
> 
Indeed.

> It's not. It was designed with single program in mind but there's
> nothing in it that prevents other people from implementing the 
> standard.

What standard? Who has agreed to it?. Who has a say in it?. Nonsense.