Why I am a Word refusenik

Many Micro$oft Windows&Word users believe that the way they use their computer is the way the whole world uses their computers. That assumption is, unfortunately, erroneous. For instance, a large fraction of my physics colleagues across the planet (and I) prefer Apple computers - for academic reasons. Further, we find the tyranny of the Micro$oft majority noxious, because it restricts the proper flow of information in our workplace.

Regardless of market share percentages, blithely assuming that e-mail recipients use Windows&Word is an un-businesslike assumption - especially in the arena of knowledge work. Generally, a far more polite strategy is to circulate memos in one of the many (easily available) platform-independent formats. But the politeness factor is only the tip of the iceberg. Micro$oft Word is, in fact, a deeply problematic format to use for distributing documents at work, for a whole host of reasons.

The most important problem is that distributing Word documents via email is a serious security hazard to the sender - and to recipients. Most Word users are not even aware that any Word document may include information that is not visible to the preparer but is readable by certain (easily obtainable) tools. Information inadvertently included in a Word document may be confidential to the sender or their organization or both. Accidental release of confidential information can happen when the preparer uses a template from one Word document - i.e., erases the text, but keeps the formatting - to create another. Therefore, people who use Word for distributing documents at work are at significant risk of breaking confidentiality of others and violating their own personal privacy. That is unwise in even the best of workplaces.

Microsoft Word possesses other unattractive features. A major one is that Word is proprietary; it even creates incompatibility problems with earlier versions of itself! Word is also a big resource hog, forcing people to regularly buy updated hardware for their computers to cope with the ever-higher RAM (and so forth) demands of the software. That is obnoxious, especially for people or organizations without money to spare. Moreoever, the files Word produces are overly bloated.

For further details on how Word compromises the sender's security, and other major problems with Word, readers are invited to metabolise the following authoritative essays:-

• "No Word, thanks", from the web site of The Elektronisk Forpost Norge
• "We Can Put an End to Microsoft Word Attachments", by Richard Stallman
• "Attachments in proprietary formats considered harmful", by Manuel Chakravarty
• "MS-Word is not a document exchange format", by Jeff Goldberg
• "Please don't send me Microsoft Word documents", by Tristan Miller
• "Don't send Microsoft Word documents to me", by Jonathan de Boyne Pollard
• "Avoid e-mail attachments, especially Microsoft Word", by Neal McBurnett
• "In praise of practical e-mail hygiene", by Martin Vermeer
• "Stop sending Word documents", by Tony Bove
• "Why not Word!", by Samuel Tardieu
• "Use appropriate body part formats", by Jonathan de Boyne Pollard
• "How to turn off HTML attachments in your outgoing mail", by Jeffrey Race

So - what format should we be using to distribute documents at work? Is there an electronic format which is platform-independent, and in which documents look exactly the same for anyone who prints them? Yes! Just such a format exists: PDF - Portable Document Format. A PDF file is actually an exact electronic copy of the printed document, and it is already automatically compressed, which makes it perfect for distributing files via email and on the web.

On a Mac running OS X, any document can automatically be printed to a PDF file just as easily as to any printer. Linux and unix users, for their part, also tend to know how to produce platform-independent documents like PDF files, because they have significant experience with how computers work under the bonnet. On the other hand, many Microsoft Windows&Word users - especially those who (a) don't have spare money for expensive software or (b) don't have much experience or confidence with how computers work under the bonnet - can find it difficult or impossible to make PDF files.

Enter CutePDF or doPDF (for example), a little hero to save the Windows&Word user's day! CutePDF/doPDF is a free, open source, downloadable utility. Once installed, this little thingy simply permits printing to a PDF file. The process goes just like it would for printing the Word document to any normal printer, except that the outcome is a PDF file on the PC's hard drive instead of ink patterns on a piece of dead tree. PDF files circulated electronically to colleagues would print on recipients' printers exactly the same as on the sender's printer, regardless of the kind of hardware the recipients may use.

If a Windows&Word user does not have permission to install software on their PC, they can simply substitute the free Zamzar online file conversion service (for example) instead. The free Zamzar service is sufficient for occasional use. (Note: your mileage may vary; like with any web-based service, it is important to read the terms of service and privacy policy before proceeding. If any doubt arises, local system administrators can assist.)

If exact page layout is not mission-critical, then rich text (RTF) can be a great substitute for Word (DOC) as a file format for documents with distributed authorship. In particular, RTF files can be edited by colleagues on Windows and Mac and linux and unix machines - and more. So can plain text (TXT) and hypertext (HTML) files. Each of these formats, along with PDF, plays nicely with all operating systems. (Note: if HTML is chosen, then due care must be taken to ensure that each HTML document passes standards-compliance tests like the famed W3C Validator - which check for qualities like disability accessibility and multiple browser support. Unfortunately, Micro$oft-produced HTML usually fails such international standards tests abysmally, and therefore should not be used.)

Would you please play your part in helping keep software free (free as in freedom, and maybe even free as in free beer too) by educating others about this too? Thanks for listening.

- kiwinerd    [ kiwinerd.org | kiwinerd.info ]

P.S.: Remember - many faculty members who receive Micro$oft Word memos from administrative staff members solve The Word Problem by just flushing the emails down the recycling tubes - without reading them first!    :-o

 

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  Last updated: 20090614