Got a submission for The Dead Mule saved as a .wpd and it didn’t open in OpenOffice. Went to OpenOffice site and found a answer **lost answer– this question from original blog** which I am going to try. In the meantime, I asked the writer to submit the story in the body of th email, which she did. Then, because she’s a nice person, she re-sent the submission as a .doc because she didn’t want me to have to re-type her story [the email copy/paste transfer, the puncutation marks were all fubarred.]
She saved the document as a Word document but even though the attachment extension was .doc, in Ximian Evolution the notification was for “rich text format” which lead to the available dropdown list of avenues for opening the attachment limited to viewing it as a xml file which I tried but I got all the code along with the short story. Obviously…
Are you with me so far? So, I saved the attachment and opened it directly in OpenOffice rather than from Evolution. And I could view it without the xml code. So Word Perfect users can save their documents as .doc’s and if the recipient is patient or OpenOffice savvy, it will work. The hardest hurdle I have to jump is figuring out the user’s level of competency. I think this is where my Desktop Linux issues differ from others – where my OpenOffice problems become apparent.
It’s not that I have problems with the OpenOffice word processor and the people that I send my documents to do not have problems with opening my files. I figured out quickly how to save as alternative file extensions, ext’s that fit my recipient’s needs. It’s the learning curve of other writers that I have to deal with – As an editor, I deal on a daily basis with users who don’t know a .doc from a .txt. It’s not a SuSE9 or a Fedora problem, it’s not a software conversion problem, it’s not an OpenOffice problem, a filter problem – or even a Ximian Evolution problem [or Mozilla, or Konquerer, keep listing, keep listing]
The problem is on the other end of the Internet for me. And there would be the rant I could indulge in, but I’m not going to have a temper tantrum today. I’m not going to scream at writers to learn basic computer/word processing skills. I taught history long enough to know it won’t do any good to tell someone to learn something. They have to figure it out for themselves…
And a caveat here: I am a writer. I know I use the wrong terms or refer to programs, software, OS’s and such interchangeably. Perhaps there’s a lesson in this somewhere about user terminology and reference points for non-programmers. I have learned that I should refer to myself as a desktop GNU/Linux user – I know the difference between a software program and an operating system. I am beginning to grasp what a kernel is [and I’ve figured out it’s not going to pop in paper bag in my microwave].
But mostly I am concerned about
1) filter and conversion problems with OpenOffice documents and other word processing documents;
2) publicizing the availability of quality open source software programs for writers;
3) educating those who submit – articles, short stories, whatever type of writing online – on the proper technique and etiquette of sending their writing through email or as attachments. Any other information that spews forth from my fingertips is suspect and should be filtered through the reader’s internal intellectual cerebral software…