[rolly]

I see I'm gonna have a rough time trying to convince you to re-consider OO.
Very slim chance it seems.

Instead of picking your reply apart and counteracting your answers,(wouldn't want you to think I like to argue or anything ),I'll just try one more question.
As you have said here:

When my students have written an essay at home (on their Windows computers using Microsoft Word) and they bring a usb-stick containing the essay to school, then the real trouble starts

When they open the Word file in OpenOffice, all the formatting is screwed up - and if they have included images - these will be placed somewhere totally random

I changed the wording in your quote to reflect how your argument of incompatibility is irrelevant.

When my students have written an essay at home (on their Linux computers using Open Office) and they bring a usb-stick containing the essay to school, then the real trouble starts

When they open the Word file in Microsoft Word, all the formatting is screwed up - and if they have included images - these will be placed somewhere totally random

If they are indeed incompatible with each other,then this would also be true.
In this case,would it at least be fair to agree that Microsoft Word sucks?
If you do agree,that still does not say anything for which app is "better".

I could say exactly the same as your argument for web browsers.
Some browsers will not display the web page correctly because of substandard W3C or WDG coding.
Some browsers will ignore the incorrect coding(or even fix it) and display the page anyway the best it can.
Here,the blame can't be placed on the browser that demands proper coding,and does not display the web page correctly.
The blame has to be placed on the source of the document with incorrect coding.

In your case,the source of the document is Microsoft Word.
Just because Microsoft Word can read its own source,doesn't make it right.

Without going into how many other aspects Microsoft fails miserably in,I'll quit now before I really get you mad.

[vikulenka]

Come on, you guys. Back to your corners.

[rolly]

In search of finding answers and/or solutions to this "debate",I posted to a linux board the following pretending to be someone with a grievance about OO.
In part......

.....When a document is written using Microsoft word and then opened with Open Office,all the formatting is screwed up.
Also,the images included in the document will be placed somewhere totally random........

A quick reply,the first of many more I expect that will give me a certain beating like I never had before.
See what I will do for you folks/friends over here!

The reply.

I use OO for lots of document processing which is primarily for presentation type articles (reports, feasibility studies, project proposals etc.) replete with line drawing images as well as photos. Never have I had any issues with the placement of inserted items.

For purposes of compatibility with the greater populous I save them in Word format,(so windows can get it right)

I also have over 3,000 Word format documents created originally in Windows all of which open flawlessly in OO with no image shifting as mentioned by you.

So either you are just pulling my chain regarding OO or you are messing with some setting which may be causing the misplacement of the images.

I have never really had to "tune" OO to make it work apart from basic stuff like font, font size, spacing etc.

[solaris]

Originally Posted by rolly

I see I'm gonna have a rough time trying to convince you to re-consider OO.
Very slim chance it seems.

Instead of picking your reply apart and counteracting your answers,(wouldn't want you to think I like to argue or anything ),I'll just try one more question.
As you have said here:

I changed the wording in your quote to reflect how your argument of incompatibility is irrelevant.

If they are indeed incompatible with each other,then this would also be true.
In this case,would it at least be fair to agree that Microsoft Word sucks?
If you do agree,that still does not say anything for which app is "better".

I could say exactly the same as your argument for web browsers.
Some browsers will not display the web page correctly because of substandard W3C or WDG coding.
Some browsers will ignore the incorrect coding(or even fix it) and display the page anyway the best it can.
Here,the blame can't be placed on the browser that demands proper coding,and does not display the web page correctly.
The blame has to be placed on the source of the document with incorrect coding.

In your case,the source of the document is Microsoft Word.
Just because Microsoft Word can read its own source,doesn't make it right.

Without going into how many other aspects Microsoft fails miserably in,I'll quit now before I really get you mad.

rolly, you wouldn't be able to pick my argument(s) apart, since I only write what I see in my everyday work:

1. Students panicking because their Word files (which they ALL seem to have at home) can't be read properly by OpenOffice (which they have to deal with at school - because it's free).

Then you could rightfully say that it would be the same, if it had been the other way around (OpenOffice being the one that 99.9 percent of the students had at home and Word, which we had at school) - but that wouldn't solve the problem seen from a teacher's point of view. We should be able to use what ALL our students are 100 percent familiar with So the donkey and monkey are in the lap of OpenOffice

2. The 'translation'/grammatical issue has now been there for 1½ years, which far, FAR too long, when considering that the students get confused and aren't progressing knowledge wise because of it


So until the two above issues are fixed, I will tell everyone that I meet (and who wants to listen to me) whether this being in the real or in the virtual world - that I really, REALLY hate the guts of OpenOffice

[vikulenka]

Originally Posted by solaris

rolly, you wouldn't be able to pick my argument(s) apart, since I only write what I see in my everyday work:

1. Students panicking because their Word files (which they ALL seem to have at home) can't be read properly by OpenOffice (which they have to deal with at school - because it's free).

Then you could rightfully say that it would be the same, if it had been the other way around (OpenOffice being the one that 99.9 percent of the students had at home and Word, which we had at school) - but that wouldn't solve the problem seen from a teacher's point of view. We should be able to use what ALL our students are 100 percent familiar with So the donkey and monkey are in the lap of OpenOffice

2. The 'translation'/grammatical issue has now been there for 1½ years, which far, FAR too long, when considering that the students get confused and aren't progressing knowledge wise because of it


So until the two above issues are fixed, I will tell everyone that I meet (and who wants to listen to me) whether this being in the real or in the virtual world - that I really, REALLY hate the guts of OpenOffice

Guys, seems too much time and effort (as well as colors, smilies and fonts) has gone into this thread. Let's agree to disagree.

As a free alternative to Microsoft Office, Open Office may be adequate. (It served it's purpose on my Mac for awhile, until I caved in and got Microsoft Office.)

It probably should not be mandated in institutions of higher learning just yet, and their grammar utilities leave a lot to be desired for languages other than English.

[rolly]

Let's agree to disagree.

OK. I quit.
Except for just one more thing.
Chevrolet is better than a Ford.

[vikulenka]

Originally Posted by rolly

OK. I quit.
Except for just one more thing.
Chevrolet is better than a Ford.

They are both crap.

[Nightfly]

Originally Posted by vikulenka

They are both crap.

I have to disagree Chevy beats out a Ford any day.
My poor daughter bought a Ford (Fix Or Repair Daily) 2 mechanics
told her not to buy a Ford-she did and is making our family go broke.
I had a Caddy and it was to expensive to keep up.
Now I have a Chevy I have put 97,000 miles on it, runs like new, great on gas,and very dependable.

Of course I'd rather have a BMW, but I take what I can afford.

[vikulenka]

Originally Posted by Nightfly

I have to disagree Chevy beats out a Ford any day.
My poor daughter bought a Ford (Fix Or Repair Daily) 2 mechanics
told her not to buy a Ford-she did and is making our family go broke.
I had a Caddy and it was to expensive to keep up.
Now I have a Chevy I have put 97,000 miles on it, runs like new, great on gas,and very dependable.

Of course I'd rather have a BMW, but I take what I can afford.

My intention was to put an end to rolly's blatant attempt to start another debate.

Looks like I just added oil to the fire

[Nightfly]

Originally Posted by vikulenka

My intention was to put an end to rolly's blatant attempt to start another debate.

Looks like I just added oil to the fire

Not at all,just took the ball and ran with it.........