Jim the Bad wrote:
>I emailed Gedling county council in regards to a Council Tax query. They
>replied, with the message in the form of a MS Word .doc attachment.
>
>I appended this PS to my mail back to them:
>
><Quote>
>PS. Can I recommend a change in policy in regards to sending documents
>externally? It is a breach of 'netiquette' to send Microsoft Word documents
>(.doc files), as these files can (usually) only be read using Microsoft Word.
>Not everyone who has a computer has access to MS Word, and so many people
>cannot read them. The format of these .doc files is a closely guarded MS
>trade secret, and kept this way to prevent writers of other Word Processors
>from being compatible with Word. The purpose of this is to extend Microsoft's
>monopoly. I'm sure Gedling bourough council has no wish to aid a convicted
>monopolist in extending thier monopoly any further!
>May I recommend that in future, you use the open standard '.rtf' format for
>such documents? The RTF format was developed for just this purpose, and is an
>establised open standard.
></Quote>
>
>To my suprise and delight, I got this reponse:
>
><Quote>
>You are quite correct with regard to the .rtf format. However, I must
>inform you that you are the first to query the format which probably only
>goes to show that, as you say, most people use MS word.
>Our external format has now been changed.
></Quote>
>
>Nice!
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>http://www.lug.org.uk http://www.linuxportal.co.uk
>http://www.linuxjob.co.uk http://www.linuxshop.co.uk
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>
WAY TO GO MAN
its inovative thoughts like yours that helps the linux comunity, well
done to the council for changing their policy so fast
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