Now my personal opinion is that when you don't know if your audience has the capability of opening a particular format, you use the most common one. But the Office Open XML format has been around for, what, four years or so now? Some of my college professors use *.doc, but others use *.docx.
Yesterday one girl took up five minutes of class time with a hissy fit about not being able to open the syllabus. Once I informed her that she could find the translator on the internet with Google she muttered loudly in the back of the auditorium for the rest of the class about the unfairness of having to get a translator.
Seriously, some of the professors are barely computer literate (this particular prof printed out his PowerPoint slides and put them on transparencies, even though he had a computer and an LCD projector available to use). Trying to get them to learn how and then remember to save their files as *.doc is a losing battle. I use Macs almost exclusively and even *I* have got the plugins to use with Office 2004 for Mac. With all that, I am still amazed when people bitch about not being able to open *.docx files.
I know people don't always have the money to buy new programs, but the plugin is free, damnit! Get with the program!
Yesterday one girl took up five minutes of class time with a hissy fit about not being able to open the syllabus. Once I informed her that she could find the translator on the internet with Google she muttered loudly in the back of the auditorium for the rest of the class about the unfairness of having to get a translator.
Seriously, some of the professors are barely computer literate (this particular prof printed out his PowerPoint slides and put them on transparencies, even though he had a computer and an LCD projector available to use). Trying to get them to learn how and then remember to save their files as *.doc is a losing battle. I use Macs almost exclusively and even *I* have got the plugins to use with Office 2004 for Mac. With all that, I am still amazed when people bitch about not being able to open *.docx files.
I know people don't always have the money to buy new programs, but the plugin is free, damnit! Get with the program!
Comment