Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!crdgw1!uunet!world!boris
From: boris@world.std.com (Boris Levitin)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.apps
Subject: Re: Need Info On Microsoft Word Compatibility
Keywords: macintosh word processor
Message-ID: <1990Nov25.110735.18341@world.std.com>
Date: 25 Nov 90 11:07:35 GMT
References: <19853@oolong.la.locus.com>
Organization: The World @ Software Tool & Die
Lines: 66

jfr@locus.com (Jon Rosen) writes:

>I am interested in people who are using Microsoft Word x.x (pick the version
>that you are using) on both the Macintosh and the IBM PC (ugh!)...

I use Word 4.0B on the Mac constantly (only weenies don't stay current), and 
occasionally get documents in Word/DOS 5.0.

>I have to
>justify acquisition of a Mac at work and the bottom line is that I can do so
>if the Microsoft Word files are compatible across both machines.   
> 
>Interesting questions:
> 
>  1. How compatible are the actual file formats?

Very, unless you use outdated versions.

>  2. How compatible are the various style sheet and format specs?

From the MS Word/MacOS 4.0 manual:
"[The 'Microsoft Word MS-DOS' file format, selectable from the File Save
Formats dialog box] saves your document so that comparable character and
paragraph formatting can be interpreted by Microsoft Word for MS-DOS version
4.0 or earlier.  To save documents for use with Microsoft Word for MS-DOS 
version 5.0, select [instead, from the same dialog box] the Interchange
format (RTF) [Microsoft Rich Text Format] option. Because of differences in
the programs, some features may not be transferable, including outlining 
levels, styles and tables."

Microsoft has recognized that having current versions of the same program on
different platforms which are not 100% format-compatible is a problem, and
intends to solve it starting with the very next release of Word.  MacOS and
MS-DOS versions will be brought out nearly simultaneously and be virtually
identical, or so Microsoft assures us.  Microsoft also claims that it has
given up on waiting for System 7.0's public release before shipping the next
versions of Word and Excel, but I doubt we'll see them before the end of the
first quarter.

I suggest you go to a store that sells both Macs and DOS boxes, and make
a few tests. Anyway, damn the styles to hell (if indeed they're incompatible).
If you don't buy a Mac, you will regret it every day.  I have worked 
successfully on systems much more arcane than DOS (you've got to see IBM's
mainframe OSs), and am certifiably not a technophobe, but I find DOS 
inexcusable in 1990, and a national embarrasement.

>  3. Do I need to use Apple File Exchange to convert the files?

No.

>  4. Is there a simple way to move the files across a network (assume FTP)?

These are binary files, so they should survive ftp and up/downloading (provided
your comm. software is not set to strip any characters) but not most electronic
mail methods.  For this latter means of transmission you would have to use
uuencode or BinHex 4.0.

Let me know how it goes.

Boris Levitin
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Audience & Marketing Research              wgbx!boris_levitin@athena.mit.edu
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(The opinions expressed herein are my own and do not necessarily coincide 
with those of my employer or anyone else.  The WGBH tag is for ID only.)