From delves@nasoftwr.demon.co.uk Wed May 24 17:13:03 2000 Received: from anchor-post-33.mail.demon.net (anchor-post-33.mail.demon.net [194.217.242.91]) by dkuug.dk (8.9.2/8.9.2) with ESMTP id RAA68267 for ; Wed, 24 May 2000 17:13:02 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from delves@nasoftwr.demon.co.uk) Received: from nasoftwr.demon.co.uk ([158.152.18.126] helo=linux1.nasoftware) by anchor-post-33.mail.demon.net with esmtp (Exim 2.12 #1) id 12ucqD-0009mU-0X; Wed, 24 May 2000 16:13:01 +0100 Received: from tr7.nasoftware (root@tr7 [192.9.200.91]) by linux1.nasoftware (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id PAA31222; Wed, 24 May 2000 15:32:09 +0100 Received: from localhost (delves@localhost) by tr7.nasoftware (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id PAA00194; Wed, 24 May 2000 15:32:07 +0100 Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 14:32:07 +0000 (GMT) From: Mike Delves X-Sender: delves@tr7.nasoftware To: Lawrie Schonfelder cc: Miles Ellis , "WG5 members (list)" Subject: Re: (SC22WG5.1801) Use of Word to distribute documents In-Reply-To: <200005231338.PAA63787@dkuug.dk> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII From Linux you can create pdf from a postscript file using ps2pdf. Or, latex users can use pdflatex directly. I support Miles' suggestion that pdf be the distribution format. Mike Delves Mike Delves delves@nasoftware.co.uk N.A. Software Ltd Tel: +44 151 709 4738 62 Roscoe St, Liverpool Fax: +44 151 709 5645 Merseyside L1 9DW UK http://www.nasoftware.co.uk On Tue, 23 May 2000, Lawrie Schonfelder wrote: > Everyone can read pdf, the reader is freely available, but you need > relatively expensive prorietry software that is not all that widely used > (relative to word) to create it. As far as I know 90+% of people who use PCs > or MACs are likely to use WORD. If you are using Linux or solaris then there > is the free downloadable star-office product that can read and write word > format documents perfectly well. This is also available for use on PCs if you > happen to prefer CORAL or LOTUS wordprocessing products. > > On Mon, 22 May 2000 16:24:10 +0100 Miles Ellis > wrote: > > > On 22/5/00 3:37 pm John Reid said: > > > > > Word is currently used to distribute some SC22 documents and I am > > > objecting. Here is a short paper for the meeting in Japan in September. > > > Does anyone have any comments? > > > > > > John. > > > > > > .......................... > > > > > > > > > Proposal: That SC22 cease to use Word for document distribution > > > > > > John Reid, WG5 Convenor > > > > > > Word is not a standard and is unsafe (it provides a mechanism for > > > the import of viruses). It is not readily available to those running > > > systems other than Microsoft's. Marisa Peacock reports that she can > > > easily circulate documents in HTML or PDF instead. > > > > > > > I complained about Word being used to distribute documents several years ago > > for exactly the same reasons that John cites. When Bill Rinehuls was the > > Secretariat for SC22 he used to distribute documents in text form wherever > > possible, and used pdf on most other occasions. Since pdf is an acceptable > > format in which to submit standards, etc, to ISO for publication, unlike > > PostScript, this always seemed a sensible approach. > > > > Most people can read standard HTML - whatever that is - and it is unlikely > > that any standards documents would contain Explorer or Netscape proprietary > > extensions which would cause problems for some people. So HTML is probably > > OK for simpler documents. However, pdf is preferable, IMHO, for draft > > standards, etc, simply because it is acceptable for the final document and > > HTML is not. > > > > Miles > > > > -------------- > > Dr Miles Ellis > > Director: Educational Technology Resources Centre > > University of Oxford, 37 Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JF, ENGLAND > > > > Telephone: +44 1865 270528 Fax: +44 1865 270527 > > Email: Miles.Ellis@etrc.ox.ac.uk > > miles@oph.u-net.com (home) > > WWW: http://www.etrc.ox.ac.uk/information/staff/Miles/Miles_Ellis.html > > > > -- > Lawrie Schonfelder > Director, Computing Services Dept. > The University of Liverpool, UK, L69 7ZF > Phone: 44(151)794 3716, Fax: 44(151)794 3759 > > > >