Wise Young
04-14-2007, 01:15 AM
http://www.goldmark.org/netrants/no-word/attach.html
This is an interesting internet article that makes some very cogent arguments for why one should *not* send word documents. Let me summarize the reasons why I do not send word documents unless I am collaborating with somebody who is working on the same document, i.e. writing a paper together.
1. Word documents have a lot of extraneous material. They contain a lot more stuff in them than just the text that you put in. They contain a lot of defaults and also your name and information about your programs.
2. Word documents require the recipient to have proprietary software Word (and the correct version) to open and view. While one might argue that everybody has Word and it is an "emerging standard", this is not sufficient.
3. Word documents can be modified and then forwarded as if you wrote it. This cannot be done with pdf and other files where changes are documented and editing is not easily done.
4. Word documents are not truly cross-platform. Although Microsoft Word has versions for the Mac and Windows, they often do not share fonts or other characteristics so that the document actually may differ in formatting.
5. Word documents can contain viruses and other malicious agents that can damage your computer and others. One of the favorite ways for viruses to spread is through word documents.
By the way, most of the above is true of powerpoint and excel files as well. So, what is the solution? I usually use pdf (Adobe Acrobat) files. On the Mac, it is easy to save a file printed output in pdf format. What you see is what you get across all the platforms, regardless of font. The file is usually more compact, secure, and generally will not carry any viruses or malicious agents. PDF files can be be surreptitiously edited and modified. It is truly a universal format that can be displayed on Windows, Mac, Linux/Unix, and many older systems.
Wise.
This is an interesting internet article that makes some very cogent arguments for why one should *not* send word documents. Let me summarize the reasons why I do not send word documents unless I am collaborating with somebody who is working on the same document, i.e. writing a paper together.
1. Word documents have a lot of extraneous material. They contain a lot more stuff in them than just the text that you put in. They contain a lot of defaults and also your name and information about your programs.
2. Word documents require the recipient to have proprietary software Word (and the correct version) to open and view. While one might argue that everybody has Word and it is an "emerging standard", this is not sufficient.
3. Word documents can be modified and then forwarded as if you wrote it. This cannot be done with pdf and other files where changes are documented and editing is not easily done.
4. Word documents are not truly cross-platform. Although Microsoft Word has versions for the Mac and Windows, they often do not share fonts or other characteristics so that the document actually may differ in formatting.
5. Word documents can contain viruses and other malicious agents that can damage your computer and others. One of the favorite ways for viruses to spread is through word documents.
By the way, most of the above is true of powerpoint and excel files as well. So, what is the solution? I usually use pdf (Adobe Acrobat) files. On the Mac, it is easy to save a file printed output in pdf format. What you see is what you get across all the platforms, regardless of font. The file is usually more compact, secure, and generally will not carry any viruses or malicious agents. PDF files can be be surreptitiously edited and modified. It is truly a universal format that can be displayed on Windows, Mac, Linux/Unix, and many older systems.
Wise.