Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!dwells
From: dwells@Apple.COM (Dave Wells)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: A "goody" of MS-Word...
Message-ID: <33085@apple.Apple.COM>
Date: 12 Jul 89 18:26:46 GMT
References: <20200038@uxh.cso.uiuc.edu>
Organization: Apple Computer Inc, Cupertino, CA
Lines: 46

In article <20200038@uxh.cso.uiuc.edu> cuello@uxh.cso.uiuc.edu writes:
>
>Suppose that you were typing a document in Microsoft Word 4.0. Upon a  final
>revision, you decide that some of the information contained in it should
>not be released; or maybe some of the wording of the document is not very diplo-matic.
>
>So you decide to delete those parts that should not be read by the recipient of
>the document. Or maybe you substitute it for other paragraphs with a better
>wording.
>
>And finally you send the document. Suppose you send it using electronic mail.
>If the person in question has Microsoft Word 4.0, no problem; your document
>will look as neat and polished as it did the last time you saved it.
>
>But if the person has (arg!) version 3.0x, prepare yourself for a rude awake-
>ning.
>
>Because our good-old MS Word will have stored in the file _ALL_ the text that
>has been typed in that document, regardless if it was deleted, edited, polished,armor-alled...
>
>So, when the guy tries to open the 4.0 document using 3.0x, the file will be
>read as text... and everything will be there for him to see!!!
>
>Now, isn't this an efficient way to store information?

It gets better.

I was given a word 3 document to proof.  Since I had already upgraded to word 4
I opened it with that.  No problem.  Everything imported okay and I edited a
bunch and saved the new document (with "save as").  Without thinking better,
I sent the completed document to the publisher (who hadn't upgraded yet).

When she opened the document as text only, she saw all of the changes I had
made, but there was a bonus.  At the end of the document was 2/3 of an old
letter I had long ago sent to a friend.  It looks as though there's a problem
here with end-of-file markers!  Lucky it wasn't anything too damaging.  :-)

-Dave

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           Dave Wells, Apple Computer, Inc.  MS: 37-O  (408) 974-5515
          Mail: dwells@apple.com or AppleLink d.wells or GEnie D.WELLS
 These opinions may be nothing more than the ramblings of a fatigued tinkerer
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 There's one big difference between genius and stupidity.  Genius has limits.
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