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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.rmit.EDU.AU!news.unimelb.EDU.AU!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!qns3.qns.com!news.sprintlink.net!new-news.sprintlink.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in2.uu.net!world!mv!news.missouri.edu!vortex.cc.missouri.edu!rhys From: rhys@vortex.cc.missouri.edu (Justin "Rhys Thuryn" McNutt) Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.os.linux.advocacy Subject: Re: Historic Opportunity facing Free Unix (was Re: The Lai/Baker paper, benchmarks, and the world of free UNIX) Followup-To: comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.os.linux.advocacy Date: 22 Apr 1996 15:09:19 GMT Organization: University of Missouri - Columbia Lines: 28 Message-ID: <4lg7ev$isk@news.missouri.edu> References: <4ki055$60l@Radon.Stanford.EDU> <DpsKyx.1Jo@catzen.gun.de> <tporczykDptpAL.8uG@netcom.com> <4l0fv9$1bfs@news.missouri.edu> <4l2u61$fdg@solaria.cc.gatech.edu> <4l4crd$nus@miso.cs.uq.edu.au> <31769650.284D5C90@lambert.org> NNTP-Posting-Host: vortex.cc.missouri.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.development.system:21804 comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc:702 comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc:3338 comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc:3179 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:17701 comp.os.linux.advocacy:46321 Terry Lambert (terry@lambert.org) wrote: : ] Too short sighted. Did Netscape go and write a Word6 compatible : ] WWW browser? No. Applications *don't* live forever (Word6 : ] cannot load Word3 documents, for example). Yeah, but Netscape isn't a word processor. Besides, if Netscape *could* read Word 6 files directly as "web pages", it would be a hell of a feature. : For what it's worth, "The File Formats Handbook" by Born states : that Word6 format is not documented because it is proprietary : and only available under non-disclosure. : So you would have a hell of a time legally writing a clone that : could read the file formats in any event. So you just write two modules: tex2msw6.o and msw62tex.o. Distribute them pre-compiled with the source for the rest of the package. Be happy. The Linux word processor just has to be capable of reading and writing Word docs. It doesn't have to reveal how it's done. -------- If you can lead it to water and force it to drink, it isn't a horse. Got a Linux problem? Or can you help others solve them? Visit the Linux Common Problems page at http://vortex.cc.missouri.edu/~rhys/linux.html rhys@vortex.cc.missouri.edu