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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.mira.net.au!vic.news.telstra.net!act.news.telstra.net!psgrain!news.uoregon.edu!arclight.uoregon.edu!usenet.eel.ufl.edu!news.mathworks.com!zombie.ncsc.mil!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: 30 Apr 1996 21:40:15 GMT Organization: University of Missouri - Columbia Lines: 42 Message-ID: <4m61bv$12q6@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$nus@miso.cs.uq.edu.au> <31769650.284D5C90@lambert.org> <4lg7ev$isk@news.missouri.edu> <4lmu6m$3cp@complete.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:22614 comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc:883 comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc:3582 comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc:3440 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:18410 comp.os.linux.advocacy:47474 John Goerzen (jgoerzen@complete.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. : A useless feature that would add unnecessary code bloat to an already : too-large program. The merits of Netscape aren't the issue here, so can we drop this sub-topic? : : 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. : Why? : Word isn't a standard under Windows. Around here, most people I know run : WordPerfect. : The only true multi-platform, popular, familiar, and publicized standard : capable of handling all necessary information for multiplatform document : transfer, conversion, and processing that we have to date is PostScript. : And we already have GhostScript. Aye, but LOTS AND LOTS of people are going to want to read their old Word 6 documents into this fabled WYSIWYG word processor for Linux. My response is, why not support popular (if proprietary) formats IN ADDITION TO PostScript and TeX? -------- 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