Hi,

Since I started this I guess I ought to give an update.

Basically it doesn't work.

That's no big deal, I'll just have to get over to a m$ box.

The type of document it is requires that I fill in fields. Open Office 
opens the document and allows me to fill in the fields.

Then you have to save it in Open Office writer format. I cannot view it 
with, for example, word viewer.

So unless anyone has any other ideas. Microsoft wins this batttle. But 
hopefully not the war.

Mike H

Eric "Shubes" wrote:

> Kevin Brown wrote:
>
>> Trent Shipley wrote:
>>
>>> On Thursday 2004-12-23 12:00, Lee Einer wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> Not that I am aware of. In the case of the employer I was dealing 
>>>> with,
>>>> their form had to be signed and printed out anyway, so the PDF was a
>>>> reasonable replacement for the .doc file.  A form which was to be
>>>> completed electronically  would require a different solution. HTML,
>>>> perhaps?
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Yes, for online HTML would be ideal. Using Word documents as forms 
>>> is a path of least resistance.  Virtually every office uses Word, 
>>> and almost all private users.  If you put up a Word form you can bet 
>>> that something like 95%-plus of all users will be able to fill it 
>>> out interactively and another 2% or so will be able to print 
>>> hard-copy from their browser.
>>>
>>> Advantages of the *.doc interactive form:
>>>
>>> 1) We have Word, we have Word gurus, without additional training we 
>>> can get to a prototype form in-house in 2-4 hours.
>>>
>>> 2) We can use the resulting file to produce hard-copy forms.
>>>
>>> 3) We can put the exact same form online and only an insignificant 
>>> minority of users will be unable to access the form.  The completed 
>>> form can be returned online or printed by the user and returned as 
>>> hard copy.  Even if the form needs to be signed sophisticated users 
>>> with scanners can return the form online (if the web builder allows 
>>> for the option) or return the form as an email attachment.
>>>
>>> 4) The sophisticated office can accept online Word forms and 
>>> automatically extract the values of the form's fields.  
>>> Unfortunately, this will require the assistance of someone with IT 
>>> expertise.
>>>
>>> WHAT A GREAT VALUE.  Cheap to create, then you can use it 
>>> everywhere, and everyone (Windows and Mac users) can access the 
>>> results.  In the worst case, a customer can request a faxed or snail 
>>> mailed hard copy. 
>>
>>
>>
>> I wouldn't completely agree with this last point.  I had to support 
>> Office on OSX and Windows and there were a number of files (word, 
>> excel, powerpoint) that would open fine on the PC version, but not 
>> the Mac and vice versa.  This was with Office 2003 for Mac and Office 
>> XP for the PCs.  And this was for internal stuff like documentation, 
>> travel expense sheets, etc...
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>>
> I'm agreeing with Kevin.
>
> In addition, there are many versions of Word which aren't necessarily 
> compatible with (even) each other. If the document is stored in Word's 
> latest format, I'd argue that there are a significant number of Word 
> users who couldn't open it using their present version of Word.
>

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