LinuxSA Mailing list archives

  From: Andrew Pullin <andrew@hotspurbgc.com.au>
  To  : James Leone <jleone@pacbell.net>
        Linux SA <linuxsa@linuxsa.org.au>
  Date: Tue, 8 Jul 2003 10:35:04 +1000

Re: Linux in business

Hi James (and All),
    I will probably have a look at your article, but just on conversions
from X to word, did you know that Star Office, and I believe Open Office,
can save in M$ Word format? It might have saved you a heap of problems, but
at least you will know for next time. I have actually tried to do this on a
fair size document, both saving initially in Word and doing a Save As in
Star/Open Office, and then opening and Save As back to Word. When I then
went to Word and opened the document up there didn't appear to be any
problems or loss of formatting or anything.

    The main problem I have with Word is that the files are bloated with
hidden formatting and are relatively huge compared to say pdf or Postscript.
I was a bit surprised at the size of your pdf file, not having looked at it
yet - why is it so big? If it is full of tables and pictures etc then I
understand, but it seems BIG. Several years ago I did some testing on file
formats for a newsletter I write and discovered that pdf/postscript files
seemed smallest for my particular application. From memory, the numbers ran
something like this for a 12 page newsletter with embedded tables and
pictures and graphics:

    Publisher        6mb
    Word             5.6mb

    I tried these two because they had "wizards" for newsletters - BIG
mistake.

    Pagemaker    900kb eps (Encapsulated Postscript)
                         800kb pdf

    These numbers were on the same file, so you can see why I prefer pdf.
Anyhow, enough of my rant - good luck with your article. Hope my little bit
has helped.
    Cheers!
        Andrew.

----- Original Message -----
From: "James Leone" <jleone@pacbell.net>
To: "'Linux SA'" <linuxsa@linuxsa.org.au>
Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2003 8:22 AM
Subject: Linux in business


>
> I have just written and submitted an article to the US Journal of
> Accountancy (JOA), about Linux, and if I am lucky, it will make it in.
> When I first started making the article, I really wanted to do some
> things that I realized I coul not, as it would just confuse the reader:
>
> 1. Call Linux....Gnu/Linux/X11/Kde/etc   I have a lot of respect for
> Stallman, but I have to deliver a clear message.
>
> 2. Include other Unix like oses, especially FreeBSD.    Same as above. I
> started calling Linux Unix, and then I started to branch out into a Free
> BSD discussion, but then I realized that I did not have the skills yet
> to reproduce  what I have done in Linux.
>
> 3. List applications unfamiliar to the reader - Unknown can mean not
viable.
>
> 4. Include my own tax project in the article.  - We have a lot of work
> to do and mentioning it would muddy the water on an already complicated
> subject
>
> I was able to explain Samba in a sentence or two so I includced that.
>
> Originally I sent a draft had the document in LyX format and sent a PDF
> and received this message:
>
> >Dear Mr. Leone:
> >
> >Thank you for your interest in the Journal of Accountancy.  However, I
> >was unable to open your attachment.  Please resend, in Word, if
> >possible.
> >
> >
>
> Yes, we did have a recent discussion @ this now didn't we.  If Linux is
> truely viable, I have to be able to deal with the rest of the world, and
> I did.
>
> I moved the thing over to MS Word, and that took a while. Word didn't
> like .eps files, but liked .tiff files, so I had to convert them. I then
> finished the article.
>
> So I can guess that some folks may want to tar and feather me.
> Fortnately I will be in LA, such as not to be found. :-D
>
> Anyway here is the article as I submitted it to the JOA.  It is a pdf
> and is 3mb. I am in a rush and did not have time to turn it into a html.
> Maybe next week.
>
> Here it is(3MB big, pdf): http://www.morton2001.org/linuxacct.pdf
>
>
> James Leone
>
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