what happened to good old word (part boaty rant)

[Renegade_Master]

What ever happened to good old word doc, now every site you go to download a form from such as MCA's site for Part 1 reg form its in some other b****y form such as pdf and you are then invited to spend three hours downloading some awful Adobe thingy....and I cant be arsed........Grrrrrr makes me mad.............

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[rickp]

Some of us would rant about Word documents. Closed formats make things difficult for those that don't use systems which microsoft have "blessed" with word.

PDF is quite a nice format in comparism.

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[duncan]

go to your local mag shop and buy any computer mag with a disk - acrobat reader will be on it (even in Spain!).

ps Word is a lot more expensive than arobat reader and an even bigger download - this machine doesn't have word on it.....

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[Renegade_Master]

yes but word comes with office yes, and what do 90% of peeps have on the PC's?

And does Adobe have an excel equivalent?

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[Dave1258]

Adobe Reader 6 is latest version, not a big file to download, are you a broadband user btw? if not you will get it on the front of any decent P.C. Mag.
The advantages of using this system are:
1.Adobe Acrobat Reader is for viewing Adobe® Portable Document Format (PDF). Adobe PDF is a universal file format that preserves all the fonts, formatting, graphics, and color of any source document, regardless of the application and platform used to create it. Adobe PDF files are compact and can be shared, viewed, navigated, and printed exactly as intended by anyone with free Adobe Acrobat Reader software.
2.Adobe PDF files can be published and distributed anywhere: in print, attached to e-mail, on corporate servers, posted on Web sites, or on CD-ROM. Adobe PDF titles are printable (unless printing is disabled by the publisher).
3.PDF eBooks
eBooks are simply books that are available in digital format. eBooks have many advantages over paper books that are a result of their digital formatting. eBooks are ordered online, and delivered electronically to your computer. You save money with no shipping, no taxes, and the lowest prices. eBooks have many features that traditional paper books do not - you have the freedom to control the look and feel of your eBook. You get to enjoy a new and powerful dimension to the written word.
So if you are looking for a form from MCA, RYA or the YMCA! it will be in this format. Regards Dave

<hr width=100% size=1>Someday my ship will come in, and with my luck I'll be at the airport!!

 

[Renegade_Master]

"So if you are looking for a form from MCA, RYA or the YMCA! it will be in this format"........ YES I KNOW, thats my point cos I cant download a form cos I aint got this adobe thingy. I have sent many many simple letters/forms compiled in word, they dont take long to send in my experience.

Yes I know Adobe is clever in fact all our brochures ads etc are compiled in such and we can send revisions of ads to MBY etc on CD and all that but .........Neils got all that on his PC and hes in Singapore and...... oh I know I'll phone MCA and get them to send a good old fax of the form

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[duncan]

you can put excel spreadsheet power point freelage graphics lotus 123 etc etc etc into .pdf format to be viewed by anyone - you can't go the other way!
however I am a little disapointed that adobe has made the reader download so fat now; once upon a time it was down around the 2mb file size but at 15.9mb for 6.0.1 it's a bit fat for a freeware app (but good)

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[Dave1258]

PM me with your addy and I will gladly send you a copy on CD.
Regards Dave

<hr width=100% size=1>Someday my ship will come in, and with my luck I'll be at the airport!!

 

[duncan]

alternatively tell me which form and I will convert the pdf for you and eMail..................?

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[Renegade_Master]

Thanks guys, yes it is a huge download and I'm not on Broadband. I need to get the form to change the rib from SSR to part one. My email duncan is cneighbour@yahoo.com.

My address Dave is 18 Ventana al Mar, Urb.Don Pedro, 29680 Estepona Malaga Spain

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[duncan]

|I have created the 2 page document as 2 windows monochrome bitmaps (you must be able to view/print those!) and will eMail in a moment (when I have chucked son 4 off the machine with my eMail facility!

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[BrendanS]

You're a dinasour in computing terms. Meant very nicely. Most companies expect people to be able to download PDF files, as it crosses more boundaries than Word (don't forget, many home computers don't have Office, as it's very expensive add on to a 300 pound computer, doubling the price - I know this as I help teach computing skills at local evening classes and schools on occasions)

PDF is a free download, Word isn't. OK some computers come with MS Works, which has Word included, but it's still an add on to some.

The other reason many companies like PDF is that most people don't have the ability to alter the content. Put a Word form on the web, and people will change bits, alter legal content etc, which might not be noticed until a problem occurs. I could give examples, but won't here.

I personally hate PDF files, but they are now part of the internet, and they won't go away until something better comes along.

<hr width=100% size=1>There is no such thing as "fun for the whole family."

 

[duncan]

done - you should have it by now in both word and html - but you will need a browser for the html /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

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[duncan]

now if the MCA had set the thing up as a pdf form and you couoldl complete it all online then it would have been even better!
adobe are I believe complicating things to 'stay ahead' and that may well be their downfall - reader is now a pretty powerfull app. People that have 3 or 4 need to upgrade to read many documents and that is bad news long term.

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[BrendanS]

Or if at all clued up, would have a html form, then only need a reasonably up to date browser.......but then need all the back end to support that...I work in this business, and nothing is ever simple

<hr width=100% size=1>There is no such thing as "fun for the whole family."

 

[halcyon]

Feel a bit out, I'm a lover of PDF, I can do a single page, or a complete brochure, pess 'go' on desktop publishing, and there you have a PDF file to upload to the web.
Remember when Windows looked like a spread sheet, they bought out Gem and made it complicated, and it's been getting that ever since, and he's still ahead by some means.

Brian

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[BrendanS]

Aaah!! but you're a PDF publisher, and peeps like you love it for the reasons you describe. It's easy and wonderful from where you are sitting.

Us content users and website browsers hate the bleedin things for a whole bunch of different reasons.

Not least of which they always take ages to download, and are often 300 pages long when we only want to read one of em!

One of many scenarios:
Sitting and waiting, sitting and waiting. It will download one day. Oops, connection broken, sod it, I won't bother then, Do any competitors have any info on this? I'll have a quick look. Ah, great!, press buy button. <g>

<hr width=100% size=1>There is no such thing as "fun for the whole family."

 

[duncan]

i think I preferred it when you were having a go a diesel marine engine users!

you getting out over the weekend or joining the 'love is not going boating/fishing' brigade?

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[BrendanS]

Uhhm! long story, but no, not going boating, will be delivering some high quality red roses in person! /forums/images/icons/wink.gif

<hr width=100% size=1>There is no such thing as "fun for the whole family."

 

[Renegade_Master]

A dinasour me............... I suppose I would be against someone who works in the business yes. I am used to MSOffice as I have run my business for years, done all my letters on word, all my spread sheets in excel, and as a result I am a very rich dinasour/forums/images/icons/smile.gif so MS Office has served me well......... Now I'll just go back to my luxury cave and lick my wounds/forums/images/icons/wink.gif

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