Xref: utzoo comp.sys.ibm.pc:24271 comp.sys.mac:26276
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!oakhill!mattp
From: mattp@oakhill.UUCP (Matt Pressly)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Mac to IBM File Transfers
Message-ID: <1817@oakhill.UUCP>
Date: 6 Feb 89 20:26:36 GMT
References: <962@novavax.UUCP> <703@stech.UUCP>
Reply-To: mattp@oakhill.UUCP (Matt Pressly)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Motorola Inc., Austin Tx.
Lines: 23

In article <703@stech.UUCP> sysop@stech.UUCP (Jan Harrington) writes:

> In terms of file
>formats, the easiest solution is to use a word processor found on both
>machines, either Word or WordPerfect. The files will then be
>compatible and you won't lose your formatting. 
>

Wrong.  Word on the IBM and Word on the Macintosh (4.0 and 3.0x,
respectively) do not use the same file format.  Word on the Macintosh does
have the capability to import documents created under the MS-DOS version of
Word, but the transfer cannot be performed in the other direction because it
is not possible to separate the style sheet from a document created under
the Mac version.  Since the MS-DOS version requires style sheets and
documents to be two separate files, Macintosh Word documents are basically
worthless on the PC -- you can do a transfer, but you lose all formatting
and get garbage added to the file, so you might as well transfer straight
ASCII files.  The new versions of Word on both IBMs and Macs may straighten
out this problem.  I don't know if the same problem exists for WordPerfect,


-- 
address: mattp@oakhill