Baslinux mailing list

[cce.zizkov AT volny.cz]

On 16 Dec 03 at 21:09, baslinux-request AT lists.ibibl wrote:

>We have WORKS for DOS.  It can export WORD files, I think.  I know it can
>export RTF because I have done that (someone with WORD for Mac could not
>import WP51/DOS files without buying an expensive filter first so I used
>WORKS to import WP51 and export RTF). I would need something that exports a
>format which I can send to other people with WORD.  Why does Word for DOS
>not export formatted files?  Are there simply no filters included in the
>program or don't they work under dosemu?

There is a 'save as' option to rtf. But I today's rtf format has
become more complex, the old rtf do not seem to compatible with Word
for Windows. Another problem are 8bit characters. Word for DOS used
the DOS charater sets. If you write only English the latter may be
tolerable to you.

Although MS-Word for DOS had never been released in an East
European version, it can be used for East European languages, because
the semi-graphical display makes use of the DOS screen driver
(ega.cpi).

>DOS Wordperfect files are also relatively tiny compared to anything made by
>Windows.

They are three times bigger than MS Word files. But more important is
the file structure:

1. header: 128 Byte
2. text: the entire unformatted text
3. formatting information of variable lenght
   containing the short information about author, title etc.

That means you are able to extract text from the file, convert
language encoding etc. This is not possible in WP. MS-Word also
comes with a utility to edit/write a printer driver.

>What do you mean by 'made available' - is WORD 5.5 now free?

You can download it from the official MS website. There is some
copyright restriction, but it is available.

Christof


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 Christof Lange <cce.zizkov AT volny.cz>
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