J
John McGhie [MVP Word, Word Mac]
All:
There is a beta of the new Office XML format converters available on
Mactopia:
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downlo...on=/mac/download/Office2004/ConverterBeta.xml
For those of you unfamiliar with beta testing, the rest of this post
explains some of the ground-rules
Note that I am intentionally
exaggerating the risks here, and being unnecessarily blunt, in order to try
to overcome the "assumption" that if it's on the Microsoft website it must
be in some way guaranteed. I really am trying to warn people who have no
experience of software testing that they should "just don't go there!".
This is a very early beta, and it may be pretty rough!
Beta testing is NOT simple, and it's NOT safe. This release may not work,
but it may also destroy your Office installation so none of the applications
work at all. Or not. They have no way of knowing. That's why it's a beta
If you run haxies or helper applications that interact with Office,
expect very high entertainment -- you will probably get it! My strong
suggestion is that you do NOT install these converters unless you need them
in your work. Wait for the real thing, which should appear towards the end
of this year.
When they say "Technical support is not available for this beta release"
they mean "We do not have enough staff to return emails, pick up the phone,
or answer any questions at all!! We won't even try!" The folks in this
newsgroup will try to help you out, but be aware that we have not tried this
stuff out yet either, so while we will do our best to help, we will be
trying to FIND the answers for you.
1) It WILL crash. If they knew how, when, or why, they woulda fixed it
already. So WHEN it crashes, or doesn't work right, tell US about it in
this group (or it won't be fixed!!). The developers do not have enough
staff to handle feedback, so there is no official feedback mechanism. The
MVPs can pass your feedback on if you put it in here. (We'll only pass bug
reports on if they contain enough details of your software and system to
enable Microsoft to reproduce the bug. We don't have time to chase the
details from you either, or to try scenarios for you)
2) It will work most of the time. Beta software is "feature complete"
(i.e. you get all the features you're going to get, but some of them won't
work right).
3) There are some documents they won't convert. No: Nobody yet knows which
ones Probably very few documents can't be handled (e.g. "almost none").
But the purpose of the beta is to find out which ones Macros, of
course, will be stripped. The new Mac Office software does not have macros.
Some of the new Office Graphics cannot be edited by older applications so
they will be converted to ordinary pictures.
4) Installation will not be as smooth or as polished as you would expect
with a shipping product. In other words: "If you do not read the entire web
page before downloading, you WILL regret it. If you do not follow the
instructions EXACTLY you may screw up your system. If you do that: "Well,
you do have a problem! Sorry, there is no support."
5) All beta software includes a time-bomb. After a certain date, it will
disable itself. That date is listed on the web page. Nobody should publish
the date in this forum, because the date will change as the beta program
progresses and you do not want new users getting the wrong date.
Enjoy!
--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/
Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.
John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]
There is a beta of the new Office XML format converters available on
Mactopia:
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downlo...on=/mac/download/Office2004/ConverterBeta.xml
For those of you unfamiliar with beta testing, the rest of this post
explains some of the ground-rules
Note that I am intentionallyexaggerating the risks here, and being unnecessarily blunt, in order to try
to overcome the "assumption" that if it's on the Microsoft website it must
be in some way guaranteed. I really am trying to warn people who have no
experience of software testing that they should "just don't go there!".
This is a very early beta, and it may be pretty rough!
Beta testing is NOT simple, and it's NOT safe. This release may not work,
but it may also destroy your Office installation so none of the applications
work at all. Or not. They have no way of knowing. That's why it's a beta
If you run haxies or helper applications that interact with Office,expect very high entertainment -- you will probably get it! My strong
suggestion is that you do NOT install these converters unless you need them
in your work. Wait for the real thing, which should appear towards the end
of this year.
When they say "Technical support is not available for this beta release"
they mean "We do not have enough staff to return emails, pick up the phone,
or answer any questions at all!! We won't even try!" The folks in this
newsgroup will try to help you out, but be aware that we have not tried this
stuff out yet either, so while we will do our best to help, we will be
trying to FIND the answers for you.
1) It WILL crash. If they knew how, when, or why, they woulda fixed it
already. So WHEN it crashes, or doesn't work right, tell US about it in
this group (or it won't be fixed!!). The developers do not have enough
staff to handle feedback, so there is no official feedback mechanism. The
MVPs can pass your feedback on if you put it in here. (We'll only pass bug
reports on if they contain enough details of your software and system to
enable Microsoft to reproduce the bug. We don't have time to chase the
details from you either, or to try scenarios for you
)2) It will work most of the time. Beta software is "feature complete"
(i.e. you get all the features you're going to get, but some of them won't
work right).
3) There are some documents they won't convert. No: Nobody yet knows which
ones
Probably very few documents can't be handled (e.g. "almost none").But the purpose of the beta is to find out which ones
Macros, ofcourse, will be stripped. The new Mac Office software does not have macros.
Some of the new Office Graphics cannot be edited by older applications so
they will be converted to ordinary pictures.
4) Installation will not be as smooth or as polished as you would expect
with a shipping product. In other words: "If you do not read the entire web
page before downloading, you WILL regret it. If you do not follow the
instructions EXACTLY you may screw up your system. If you do that: "Well,
you do have a problem! Sorry, there is no support."
5) All beta software includes a time-bomb. After a certain date, it will
disable itself. That date is listed on the web page. Nobody should publish
the date in this forum, because the date will change as the beta program
progresses and you do not want new users getting the wrong date.
Enjoy!
--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/
Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.
John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]