Re: Unit Scaling Prefixes: (was Birthday Wish)

[Phil Parker <PPARKER@TWSUVM.UC.TWSU.EDU>]

> Date:    Mon, 19 Apr 1999 14:34:39 -0400
> From:    Michael Edmiston <edmiston@BLUFFTON.EDU>
>
> First let's assume we always keep the file in one format, for example
> always in Microsoft Word.
Which version?  It changes at least yearly, almost always in a way that
is not backward-compatible.

> E-mail also continues to be a problem because e-mail protocol has not
> matured as much as word processors and printers.
That's a debatable point.  Internet protocols were originally designed
and (most fortunately) continue to be "open" -- not locked into any
proprietary format.  Thus they maximize the number of people that can
communicate using them.  That's a much more mature attitude than one
will ever detect as an emission from Microsoft, the masters of the
incompatible "upgrade."

> if I want all of you to get that mu,
> I have to send the document as a Word attachment and hope you all have
> Word or at least a word processing program that can read Word files.
And, more importantly, the precise version of Word file that your app
created.  I have several word-processing programs that do not read the
latest-and-greatest format-du-jour Word files.

---------------------------------------------
Phil Parker        pparker@twsuvm.uc.twsu.edu
Random quote for this second:
  As with most fine things, chocolate has its season. There is
  a simple memory aid that you can use to determine whether it
  is the correct time to order chocolate dishes: any month
  whose name contains the letter A, E, or U is the proper time
  for chocolate.---Sandra Boynton, "Chocolate: The Consuming Passion"