Some further reflections on M$Word compatibility and Linux wordprocessing. Some real-world demands have recently led me to some further engagement with Linux wordprocessors, specifically relating to their compatibility with M$Word. The bottom line is that no Linux wordprocessor is fully compatible/compliant with M$Word standards at this time. My wife needed to open and edit her resume at home, where we have only Linux apps for this. The resume was originally composed in M$Word 6.0, using a special template for resumes. Not a single one of the latest-greatest Linux wordprocessing apps - including Open Office 1.0 - would render the document correctly. I was a bit surpised at Open Office doing such a poor job of rendering it. They say 1.0.1 is a big improvement over 1.0, but I had access only to 1.0 for this project. Abiword did no better at rendering the document. Ted was perhaps a bit worse. KWord gave a reasonable facsimile, but heavy editing was still needed. None of them w! ou! ld render the dual column layout of the original document, with its vertical separating line. KWord, though it finally helped us to edit the document into a semblance of its original form, was nonetheless extremely flakey in the process: when I would highlight some text, then try to go to the font drop-down menu to change font face, not just the program itself would crash - it would take XWindows along with it! I was left back at the gdm sign-in window when the display finally returned to normalcy. By avoiding the font changing maneuver, and saving frequently, we were finally able to get final editing done on the document. The great thing about KWord is that it allowed us to convert to .pdf right in the program.
Bottom line of this real-world experiment: NO Linux wordprocessor is fully compliant/compatible with M$Word. All have varying degrees of incompatibility. M$Word compatibilty remains, at this point, a false standard. It cannot be clearly determined which of the incompatible programs is best: probably depending on the nature of the document's formatting and how advanced it is, any one or another may perform better in a given situation. I've written previously about how Ted displayed a simple document more faithfully than Abiword. In the case of the resume, neither Abiword nor Ted were of much help - nor was Open Office. Perhaps this argues for adoption of a non-.doc standard (like .rtf) that can be readily imported and rendered by M$Word, at least as an interim solution. Perhaps better M$Word compatibility will be forthcoming from Linux wordprocessors over the next year or two. For now, it's not really there and should not be treated as a standard. James To unsubscribe from SURVPC send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with unsubscribe SURVPC in the body of the message. Also, trim this footer from any quoted replies. More info can be found at; http://www.softcon.com/archives/SURVPC.html
