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Thread ID: 83063	2007-09-18 04:31:00	Actually, I was fairly happy with the features of Office '97!	holloway (1694)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
592163	2007-09-18 04:31:00	Hmmm.. how do I describe this? Well, a few years ago I started realising that my wider family and I were buying Microsoft Office so we could exchange files with others who had Microsoft Office... not because of any features, and that actually I was fairly happy with the features of Office '97! (if others want Office 2007 that's fine, but I'd imagine there's a lot of people who would like to retain an older version of Microsoft Office, and the money in their wallet) So in my spare time I've become quite active in standards, because I think that's the way out. I started making a converter (see http://docvert.org ) and trying to make sure only well-documented standards made it into government and international standards (I've done some stuff for E-government's e-GIF and the Standards NZs workshop on OOXML). Anyway, I'm collecting stories from people who buy the latest version of Microsoft Office just because they need to be able to talk to others who have the latest version too... www.iso-vote.com If that sounds like you then I'd appreciate hearing from you :)	holloway (1694)
592164	2007-09-18 04:49:00	Hmmm . . how do I describe this? Well, a few years ago I started realising that my wider family and I were buying Microsoft Office so we could exchange files with others who had Microsoft Office . . . not because of any features, and that actually I was fairly happy with the features of Office '97! (if others want Office 2007 that's fine, but I'd imagine there's a lot of people who would like to retain an older version of Microsoft Office, and the money in their wallet) So in my spare time I've become quite active in standards, because I think that's the way out . I started making a converter (see http://docvert . org ) and trying to make sure only well-documented standards made it into government and international standards (I've done some stuff for E-government's e-GIF and the Standards NZs workshop on OOXML) . Anyway, I'm collecting stories from people who buy the latest version of Microsoft Office just because they need to be able to talk to others who have the latest version too . . . . iso-vote . com/your-stories . html" target="_blank">www . iso-vote . com If that sounds like you then I'd appreciate hearing from you :) I gave up on M$ Office anything/any version because time after times I got that error animated paper clip telling me that "Windows cannot fire this event and needs to close now . Sorry you idiot for using our product" . . or something like that . I went to OpenOffice and have not looked back . . even though I personally own and can install 2007 and earlier versions from Bill if I want . I bet they are all the same anyway and something tells me that there are quite a few others with "issues" about Office . I even have fully legal and licensed versions of Corel's Word Perfect which I refuse to use too . I never have trouble reading, editing or creating text files that are readable and re-writable by any of the Windows text programs with my Open Office, so, I don't even bother with M$'s offering .	SurferJoe46 (51)
592165	2007-09-18 04:55:00	I use 2007 on my desktop and 2000 on my laptop - TBH I don't mind the paperclip, but I don't miss him either.	pcuser42 (130)
592166	2007-09-18 05:02:00	Using Office 2000 at work, If I get sent something I can't open I ask the sender to re-do it in a suitable format. I presume the latest build of Office lets you save as an older format, in example save as...Office 97 document...	Metla (12)
592167	2007-09-18 05:17:00	Work has 2003. I've got 2000 at home. Some of the word docs here are done in 2003 and crash as soon as I open them in 2000. My work around was to get the 2007 compatibility pack on both systems and save them in the new .docx format. Which they both can now read.	bob_doe_nz (92)
592168	2007-09-18 05:33:00	Stopped at Office 97 - can't stomach adding to the MS bloat. But actually prefer OO as I don't need the fancy stuff to do what I want.	dvm (6543)
592169	2007-09-18 06:39:00	I have 2003 on all 6 computers (even on the Pocket PC) and i think its absolutely fantastic and can't wait till I get 2007. I don't mind paying for something I'm going to use everyday.	beeswax34 (63)
592170	2007-09-18 06:52:00	I have 2003 on all 6 computers (even on the Pocket PC) and i think its absolutely fantastic and can't wait till I get 2007. I don't mind paying for something I'm going to use everyday. I use Office 2003. In the event someone sends me a Works *.wps file I cannot open this in Word. Easy way out was to advise sender to use Works and send as an *.rtf file. XXXXX.rtf is rich text format and can be opened by Word. It is all about file formats and associations.	Sweep (90)
592171	2007-09-18 07:02:00	Using Office 2000 at work, If I get sent something I can't open I ask the sender to re-do it in a suitable format. I presume the latest build of Office lets you save as an older format, in example save as...Office 97 document... You are correct in so far as I can save a Word 2003 doc as Office 97 I do not use Office 2007 yet. Probably not going to. As I am sure you are aware you can save as *.rtf, *.txt Not all people use save as though. Quite a few just use default. Sounds good to me Metla.	Sweep (90)
592172	2007-09-18 10:19:00	Some of the time you can get plugins to read newer file formats but then if you're running Mac Office or Office '97 then obviously plugins aren't so available. And a 3rd party company that wanted to support OSX couldn't readily write a converter without clear specifications... so it's pretty much at Microsoft's discretion. (MS have made some specifications available but then these documents haven't received the same scrutiny as OOXML which had a lot more work done, and OOXML was unfortunately incomplete :( ) So it's these kind of scenarios that open standards help protect against. And I'd pay for good software I use every day too (and I do), but Microsoft aren't a charity... it's probably better to instead think about whether the money is justified. How much did Office '97 cost, and what kind of percentage of people would be happy with those features if it wasn't for the secret file formats that force us to upgrade. I think that's the right way to frame the question. Sure you don't HAVE to upgrade, and you can ask others to send you files in the older format, but the longer you leave it the further you are behind ... until you reach the stage when it's increasingly difficult to communicate and exchange files with other people. The solution to this is through clearly written document standards :)	holloway (1694)
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