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www/philosophy sylvester-response.html
|
From: |
Yavor Doganov |
|
Subject: |
www/philosophy sylvester-response.html |
|
Date: |
Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:49:04 +0000 |
CVSROOT: /web/www
Module name: www
Changes by: Yavor Doganov <yavor> 08/07/22 12:49:04
Modified files:
philosophy : sylvester-response.html
Log message:
Template; fix a few Britishisms and kill the dead link to
viruslist.com.
CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/sylvester-response.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.7&r2=1.8
Patches:
Index: sylvester-response.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /web/www/www/philosophy/sylvester-response.html,v
retrieving revision 1.7
retrieving revision 1.8
diff -u -b -r1.7 -r1.8
--- sylvester-response.html 20 Apr 2008 22:25:33 -0000 1.7
+++ sylvester-response.html 22 Jul 2008 12:48:57 -0000 1.8
@@ -1,193 +1,171 @@
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
-<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
- "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd";>
-<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"; xml:lang="en">
-
-<head>
+<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" -->
<title>A Response Letter to the Word Attachments</title>
-<meta http-equiv="content-type" content='text/html; charset=utf-8' />
-<meta http-equiv="Keywords"
- content="GNU, FSF, Free Software Foundation, Linux, general, public, license,
gpl, general public license, freedom, software, power, rights, word,
attachment, word attachment, microsoft" />
- <meta http-equiv="Description" content="This essay explains why Microsoft
Word attachments to email are bad, and describes what you can do to help stop
this practice." />
-<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/gnu.css" />
-<link rev="made" href="mailto:address@hidden"; />
-</head>
-
-<!-- This document is in XML, and xhtml 1.0 -->
-<!-- Please make sure to properly nest your tags -->
-<!-- and ensure that your final document validates -->
-<!-- consistent with W3C xhtml 1.0 and CSS standards -->
-<!-- See validator.w3.org -->
-
-<body>
-
-<p><a href="#translations">Translations</a> of this page</p>
-
-<p>
-<a href="/graphics/philosophicalgnu.html"><img
src="/graphics/philosophical-gnu-sm.jpg"
- alt=" [image of a Philosophical Gnu] "
- width="160" height="200" /></a>
-</p>
+<meta http-equiv="Keywords" content="GNU, FSF, Free Software
+Foundation, Linux, general, public, license, gpl, general public
+license, freedom, software, power, rights, word, attachment, word
+attachment, microsoft" />
+<meta http-equiv="Description" content="This essay explains why
+Microsoft Word attachments to email are bad, and describes what you
+can do to help stop this practice." />
+<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" -->
+<h2>A Response Letter to the Word Attachments</h2>
<p>From: Reverend Father Martin Sylvester</p>
<p>
-Sorry I was unable to read your attachment. I hope the following is useful!
-</p><p>
-You sent me an email with an attachment in Microsoft Word format, which is
-not a standard Internet format, but a proprietary one owned by Microsoft,
-and protected by them so people can't be sure of reading it properly unless
-they buy expensive Microsoft software. If you had sent me your text inside a
-plain email (instead of as an attachment to an email), or as a plain text,
-rich text, HTML, or PDF attachment, then I would have been able to read it.
-</p><p>
-Distributing documents in Word format is not good for you or for others. You
-can't be sure what they will look like if someone views them with a
-different version of Word; some people may not be able to read them at all.
-</p><p>
+Sorry I was unable to read your attachment. I hope the following is
+useful!
+</p>
+<p>
+You sent me an email with an attachment in Microsoft Word format,
+which is not a standard Internet format, but a proprietary one owned
+by Microsoft, and protected by them so people can't be sure of reading
+it properly unless they buy expensive Microsoft software. If you had
+sent me your text inside a plain email (instead of as an attachment to
+an email), or as a plain text, rich text, HTML, or PDF attachment,
+then I would have been able to read it.
+</p>
+<p>
+Distributing documents in Word format is not good for you or for
+others. You can't be sure what they will look like if someone views
+them with a different version of Word; some people may not be able to
+read them at all.
+</p>
+<p>
Receiving Word attachments is not good for you because they can carry
viruses: see
-<a href="http://www.viruslist.com/eng/viruslist.html?id=7";>
-http://www.viruslist.com/eng/viruslist.html?id=7</a>
-
-<i> (please note that the link is dead; the article seems to have moved to
<a href="http://www.viruslist.com/en/virusesdescribed?chapter=153313603";>
-http://www.viruslist.com/en/virusesdescribed?chapter=153313603</a>).</i>
-
-</p><p>
+http://www.viruslist.com/en/virusesdescribed?chapter=153313603</a>.
+</p>
+<p>
Sending Word attachments is not good for you, because a Word document
-normally includes hidden information about the author, enabling those with
-the know-how to pry into the life of the person who wrote it. Text that you
-think you deleted may still be embarrassingly present in the file, but
-simply hidden from you when you view it using Word. The person who reads
-your Word document with a different program might be able to see it all.
-Your attachments might even contain fragments of documents you were working
-on prior to sending your email, in text that's invisible to you, but visible
-to some of the people who receive your Word attachments. See
-<a
href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3154479.stm";>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3154479.stm</a>
-for more information.
-</p><p>
-If someone is using a slow connection, or reading their email through their
-mobile (cellphone) or their handheld computer, your message might not be
-accessible to them at all if you send it as a Word attachment; if it is, it
-will take many, many times longer for them to download than if you send a
-plain email, and this could be very expensive for them on a wireless
-connection.
-</p><p>
+normally includes hidden information about the author, enabling those
+with the know-how to pry into the life of the person who wrote it.
+Text that you think you deleted may still be embarrassingly present in
+the file, but simply hidden from you when you view it using Word. The
+person who reads your Word document with a different program might be
+able to see it all. Your attachments might even contain fragments of
+documents you were working on prior to sending your email, in text
+that's invisible to you, but visible to some of the people who receive
+your Word attachments. See
+<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3154479.stm";>
+http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3154479.stm</a> for more
+information.
+</p>
+<p>
+If someone is using a slow connection, or reading their email through
+their mobile (cellphone) or their handheld computer, your message
+might not be accessible to them at all if you send it as a Word
+attachment; if it is, it will take many, many times longer for them to
+download than if you send a plain email, and this could be very
+expensive for them on a wireless connection.
+</p>
+<p>
Worse still, sending people Word documents is a discourtesy because it
implies that if they don't own the programs that you use, you're not
-interested in whether or not they can read what you've written. Imagine
-sending a document in Latin to someone else without knowing whether or not
-they read Latin! If you send someone a Word document, the only way they can
-be sure of reading it properly is to go out and buy Microsoft Word. Not
-everyone can afford to do this, and millions of individuals and
-organisations use other word processing programs because they prefer them,
-or because they're cheaper or even free.
-</p><p>
-Even some people who do own Word don't like to receive Word attachments
-because they don't want to get viruses.
-</p><p>
-I hope it's clear that I'm not in any way trying to tell you off, but just
-to share with you some information that you might not have had an
+interested in whether or not they can read what you've written.
+Imagine sending a document in Latin to someone else without knowing
+whether or not they read Latin! If you send someone a Word document,
+the only way they can be sure of reading it properly is to go out and
+buy Microsoft Word. Not everyone can afford to do this, and millions
+of individuals and organizations use other word processing programs
+because they prefer them, or because they're cheaper or even free.
+</p>
+<p>
+Even some people who do own Word don't like to receive Word
+attachments because they don't want to get viruses.
+</p>
+<p>
+I hope it's clear that I'm not in any way trying to tell you off, but
+just to share with you some information that you might not have had an
opportunity to consider, and which might be helpful to you.
-</p><p>
-In case you do choose to reconsider using Word attachments as a method of
-communication, here's some information about ways of sending emails and
-attachments that anyone can read.
-</p><p>
-If what's important in your email is the words, it's always, always best to
-send it as a plain text email. This won't allow you to use italics or
-underlining, but will be readable on any email program on any device
-anywhere in the world. To do this type your message right into a blank email
-in your email program, and check that it will be sent as a plain text mail
-(not HTML or RTF) -- the 'Help' function of your email program should
-explain how you can set it up to send plain text emails. There are accepted
-conventions for emphasising words or distinguishing titles of books.
-Emphasise words like this: it's *very* easy. Cite references like this:
-Joseph Heller, _Catch 22_.
-</p><p>
-Another way that might work is to compose your message in Word, then select
-and copy all of it. Open your email program and create a new email, and
-paste the text into the area where you would type your message. This is not
-entirely reliable, since different versions of Word work slightly
-differently, and it might add a whole load of invisible formatting codes to
-your email (invisible to you, using Word: a lengthy jumble of meaningless
-characters to someone who tries to read it using something else).
-</p><p>
-If you have a very long document you want to send as an attachment, or a
-document which people won't be able to understand by means of the words
-alone (perhaps you have complicated formulae or tables in it, or you *must*
-use bold and italic), then there are still ways of doing this without
-appearing to show contempt for people who don't own Microsoft Word.
-</p><p>
-To convert the file to HTML using Word is simple. Open the document, click
-on File, then Save As, and in the Save As Type strip box at the bottom of
-the box, choose HTML Document or Web Page. Then choose Save. You can then
-attach the new HTML document instead of your Word document. Note that Word
-changes in inconsistent ways -- if you see slightly different menu item
-names, please try them.
-</p><p>
-To convert to plain text (or RTF, rich text) is almost the same--instead of
-HTML Document, choose Text Only or Text Document (or RTF or Rich text
-Format) as the Save As Type.
-</p><p>
+</p>
+<p>
+In case you do choose to reconsider using Word attachments as a method
+of communication, here's some information about ways of sending emails
+and attachments that anyone can read.
+</p>
+<p>
+If what's important in your email is the words, it's always, always
+best to send it as a plain text email. This won't allow you to use
+italics or underlining, but will be readable on any email program on
+any device anywhere in the world. To do this type your message right
+into a blank email in your email program, and check that it will be
+sent as a plain text mail (not HTML or RTF) — the
+‘Help’ function of your email program should explain how
+you can set it up to send plain text emails. There are accepted
+conventions for emphasizing words or distinguishing titles of books.
+Emphasize words like this: it's *very* easy. Cite references like
+this: Joseph Heller, _Catch 22_.
+</p>
+<p>
+Another way that might work is to compose your message in Word, then
+select and copy all of it. Open your email program and create a new
+email, and paste the text into the area where you would type your
+message. This is not entirely reliable, since different versions of
+Word work slightly differently, and it might add a whole load of
+invisible formatting codes to your email (invisible to you, using
+Word: a lengthy jumble of meaningless characters to someone who tries
+to read it using something else).
+</p>
+<p>
+If you have a very long document you want to send as an attachment, or
+a document which people won't be able to understand by means of the
+words alone (perhaps you have complicated formulae or tables in it, or
+you *must* use bold and italic), then there are still ways of doing
+this without appearing to show contempt for people who don't own
+Microsoft Word.
+</p>
+<p>
+To convert the file to HTML using Word is simple. Open the document,
+click on File, then Save As, and in the Save As Type strip box at the
+bottom of the box, choose HTML Document or Web Page. Then choose
+Save. You can then attach the new HTML document instead of your Word
+document. Note that Word changes in inconsistent ways — if you
+see slightly different menu item names, please try them.
+</p>
+<p>
+To convert to plain text (or RTF, rich text) is almost the same
+— instead of HTML Document, choose Text Only or Text Document
+(or RTF or Rich text Format) as the Save As Type.
+</p>
+<p>
Your computer may also have a program to convert to the PDF (or Adobe
-Acrobat) format, which was designed to make sure that when someone else
-views your document, it looks exactly the same on their computer as it did
-on yours. Select File => Print. Scroll through available printers and select
-the pdf converter. Click on the Print button and enter a name for the pdf
-file when requested, then attach that file to your email. There are some
-cheap or even free programs to make PDF files: use the search function at
+Acrobat) format, which was designed to make sure that when someone
+else views your document, it looks exactly the same on their computer
+as it did on yours. Select File => Print. Scroll through available
+printers and select the pdf converter. Click on the Print button and
+enter a name for the pdf file when requested, then attach that file to
+your email. There are some cheap or even free programs to make PDF
+files: use the search function at
<a href="http://www.download.com/";>http://www.download.com/</a> or
<a href="http://www.tucows.com/";>http://www.tucows.com/</a>
to find them.
-</p><p>
-I hope I haven't offended you by offering you this advice. It can be a bit
-alarming to learn that the way we've been communicating has implied
-disrespect to some of the people who receive our communications. I
-thought -- I hope I'm right -- that you'd prefer to be told about it.
-</p><p>
-If you want to explore this issue further, this web page
-<a
href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html";>http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html</a>
-might be a good place to start.
</p>
-
-<div class="translations">
-<p><a id="translations"></a>
-<b>Translations of this page</b>:<br />
-
-<!-- Please keep this list alphabetical, and in the original -->
-<!-- language if possible, otherwise default to English -->
-<!-- If you do not have it English, please comment what the -->
-<!-- English is. If you add a new language here, please -->
-<!-- advise address@hidden and add it to -->
-<!-- - in /home/www/bin/nightly-vars either TAGSLANG or WEBLANG -->
-<!-- - in /home/www/html/server/standards/README.translations.html -->
-<!-- one of the lists under the section "Translations Underway" -->
-<!-- - if there is a translation team, you also have to add an alias -->
-<!-- to mail.gnu.org:/com/mailer/aliases -->
-<!-- Please also check you have the 2 letter language code right versus -->
-<!-- http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/IG/ert/iso639.htm -->
-[
- <a href="/philosophy/sylvester-response.de.html">Deutsch</a> <!-- German -->
-| <a href="/philosophy/sylvester-response.html">English</a>
-| <a href="/philosophy/sylvester-response.fr.html">Français</a></li>
<!-- French -->
-| <a href="/philosophy/sylvester-response.pl.html">Polski</a> <!-- Polish -->
-]
+<p>
+I hope I haven't offended you by offering you this advice. It can be
+a bit alarming to learn that the way we've been communicating has
+implied disrespect to some of the people who receive our
+communications. I thought — I hope I'm right — that you'd
+prefer to be told about it.
</p>
-</div>
-
-<div class="copyright">
<p>
-Return to the <a href="/home.html">GNU Project home page</a>.
+If you want to explore this issue further, this web page
+<a href="/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html">
+http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html</a> might be a
+good place to start.
</p>
+</div>
+<!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" -->
+<div id="footer">
+
<p>
Please send FSF & GNU inquiries to
<a href="mailto:address@hidden";><em>address@hidden</em></a>.
-There are also <a href="/home.html#ContactInfo">other ways to contact</a>
+There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a>
the FSF.
<br />
-Please send broken links and other corrections (or suggestions) to
+Please send broken links and other corrections or suggestions to
<a href="mailto:address@hidden";><em>address@hidden</em></a>.
</p>
@@ -201,10 +179,40 @@
<p>
Last updated:
<!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2008/04/20 22:25:33 $
+$Date: 2008/07/22 12:48:57 $
<!-- timestamp end -->
</p>
</div>
+<div id="translations">
+<h4>Translations of this page</h4>
+
+<!-- Please keep this list alphabetical by language code. -->
+<!-- Comment what the language is for each type, i.e. de is German. -->
+<!-- Write the language name in its own language (Deutsch) in the text. -->
+<!-- If you add a new language here, please -->
+<!-- advise address@hidden and add it to -->
+<!-- - /home/www/html/server/standards/README.translations.html -->
+<!-- - one of the lists under the section "Translations Underway" -->
+<!-- - if there is a translation team, you also have to add an alias -->
+<!-- to mail.gnu.org:/com/mailer/aliases -->
+<!-- Please also check you have the language code right; see: -->
+<!-- http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/code_list.php -->
+<!-- If the 2-letter ISO 639-1 code is not available, -->
+<!-- use the 3-letter ISO 639-2. -->
+<!-- Please use W3C normative character entities. -->
+
+<ul class="translations-list">
+<!-- German -->
+<li><a href="/philosophy/sylvester-response.de.html">Deutsch</a> [de]</li>
+<!-- English -->
+<li><a href="/philosophy/sylvester-response.html">English</a> [en]</li>
+<!-- French -->
+<li><a
href="/philosophy/sylvester-response.fr.html">Français</a> [fr]</li>
+<!-- Polish -->
+<li><a href="/philosophy/sylvester-response.pl.html">Polski</a> [pl]</li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+</div>
</body>
</html>
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