Avoiding unlicensed/cracked software while keeping your job 10

[CostaRica]

I am wondering if you guys have opinions/ideas on how to work around the issue of employers that make us install software we know they don't own or have a right to use. In these days, nobody can afford to lose their job. But I also want to cover my own behind you know? I do not like having to install "illegal" software, but how do I tell my employer this without losing my job?

 

[KornGeek]

SemperFiDownUnda,
You claim that you can create a pdf with notepad. You might be able to name the file .pdf and Acrobat Reader might be able to open it, but it is not a pdf file. Using Acrobat to create pdfs allows you to convert any printer output into a document (which notepad does not support) and also has security options. Notepad is not a viable alternative. "Honestly I seriously question where you pull some of your statements from." ;-)

EdwardMartinIII,
"hanging unpleasantly on your pant legs like a teeny-bopper on ecstasy"

That is one of the best written phrases I've seen in a long time. Thank you.

 

[strongm]

I'm afraid SemperFiDownUnda is right, it is possible to create a PDF in notepad - I wouldn't recommend it, but it can be done. However, the point being made wasn't that Notepad was necessarily a viable option; it was merely demonstrating that there are alternatives to Acrobat. GhostScript, for example, can do much the same job.

 

[skiflyer]

Missed a technical note awhile back... Microsoft very much does keep the formating for Word files a secret... that has always been one of the biggest gripes against them.

Projects like staroffice and whatnot have been backwards engineering .doc files

-Rob

 

[EdwardMartinIII]

...one of the reasons a lot of people are pushing Microsoft to use XML as a possible file format.

Of course, we already have a pretty damn universal format for documents: HTML (and if you want db connectivity/interaction, such as an Office clone might provide, then you can go for a combination of XHTML/XML, using CSS as much as possible for appearance).

If people weren't so profoundly convinced they were typographical Hitchcocks and spent a few minutes a day learning how to write nice, clean HTML, then a lot more documents would be a lot more universal.

I might be mad, but at least in my madness there is a method (and an entire package of Fig Newtons).

Cheers,


Edward

"Cut a hole in the door. Hang a flap. Criminy, why didn't I think of this earlier?!" -- inventor of the cat door

 

[skiflyer]

And Microsoft annoucned not so long ago that it is pushing to use a non-standard XML solution.

HTML isn't so good for laying out files to be printed though. Typographical Hitchcock's or not I've written a couple simple Word/Excel combinations meant to print out on a pre-printed form. I wouldn't even conceive of doing such a thing in HTML.

I don't know enough about the details so I won't pretend to offer solutions... but those're my two cents.

-Rob

 

[EdwardMartinIII]

Of course it is -- there would be no incentive to use Word unless Word incorporated a superset of XML that allowed for things We Really Wanted.

HTML is not suited for filling out a paper form. HTML is well suited for filling out an online form. In for a penny...

Cheers,


Edward

"Cut a hole in the door. Hang a flap. Criminy, why didn't I think of this earlier?!" -- inventor of the cat door

 

[strongm]

>keep the formating for Word files a secret

Hmm..depends what you mean by secret. The Word binary file format was publically available up to and including Word 97. Since then it has not been publically available, but a convincing enough email to officeff@microsoft.com will get all the more recent versions for you.

 

[sleipnir214]

strongm:
Define "convincing enough" as you use it in this context.

Want the best answers? Ask the best questions:

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

TANSTAAFL!