I want to discuss how documents, specifically text documents versus spreadsheets or presentations, are shared. In particular, I think people often make a mistake when they send word processor documents around. Let me explain.
In the beginning, people created documents via ink or print and then hand-delivered them. Eventually we got fancier with our document production and even used typewriters and then standalone word processing machines. Even into the 90s, after the widespread use of word processors on pcs, it was not uncommon to hear about people creating a document on a computer, printing it out, and then faxing it to someone. You can scribble on that fax and it doesn’t change the original document. Nowadays, people routinely send a word processing document to others with whom they want to share the information and you can even find these on the web.
Unless you expect the recipient to make changes to the document, I think this is a mistake. It makes sense if you are asking for comments or working collaboratively, but if you have a finished document or, let us say, a sales quote for a customer, I think you should use Adobe PDF instead. If you want many people to read something and can do so, posting the information directly on a website as HTML or XHTML is even better and more device independent.
Many of the word processors out there can produce PDFs directly (e.g., Corel WordPerfect, IBM Workplace Productivity Tools, StarOffice, and OpenOffice) and the process to create one is simple and takes a few seconds. PDFs are often much smaller than the original word processing documents, so you save a little bandwidth.
A word processing document in some sense represents the raw material of a document on its way to final production. Once it gets there or if you just want me to read the content, send me something that I can read on multiple platforms with no trouble. Of course, in my particular case, if it must be a word processing document, make it ODF.
Comments?
Can’t resist this, sorry Bob …
When submittng a proposal to The (IBM) Center for the Business of Government, one is requested to submit MS Word documents. See http://www.businessofgovernment.org/global/forms/application/index.asp
I dutifully converted from my native document format (ODF) to MS .doc. Got a message back saying “your proposal was in a format that our computers could not read”, and was asked to submit a PDF-version, which I did.
That should have been the requirement from the beginning, in my view.
Bob,
I know you are enamoured of the ODF format, but why insist on making people transfer PDF’s? There are two issues that need to be addressed by the format…
1) accessibility – in other words, can I actually read the thing you sent to me? It is a rare business user that cannot read a word doc, Excel sheet, or Powerpoint file. This of course is also true for PDFs. Basically, this is the question of sending the information in a format which is a de facto standard. Others may have different experiences, but for my personal daily activities, .doc files are sufficient.
2) the second is about whether the document is modifiable by the recipient. I think your discussion has a fallacy in it. Of course the document is modifiable by the recipient(even if you send a PDF), the question is only whether the owner of the “official” version of the document is willing to accept modifications from the recipient, and what is the most convenient form for the owner of the official version to recieve and incorporate the modifications, should he or she choose to accept them. There are some other mistakes (like the accidental inclusion of comment and change metadata in a document that the recipient is not supposed to see… ) that particular technologies make it easy to make, but these are problems with the technology implementations, not the exchange format.
I think the conclusion is that the most flexible model would be to assume the broadest possible use of the document, which means that the end user will want a modifiable copy. There is an interesting question about what format to send that in.. but for my purposes (and I suspect the purposes of most people) sending it the formats that my tools (which like most folks, are the MS-Office stuff) is the most convenient. The only additional question is whether there is some structured way of identifying what kinds of modifications we will accept to the original owner’s copy, other than sending me an email that tells me to look at hte chart on page 6 and comment on it..
Dan,
I hesitated about mentioning ODF at all in the post and, frankly, it is secondary to the argument. It was more a message to people who do, in fact, send me .doc files that I have a different preference and would prefer they started to think about that.
I think the easy choice is to just choose what you have always used but many people with whom I speak are asking serious questions about how they will migrate to ODF. That brings up the issue of how they use documents, what kinds of documents, with whom they share them, how often they are changed once sent, etc.. In examining these issues, I think we need to think about what we send and why and not just send what’s convenient. For example, I used to get WordPerfect files, and then I used to get Lotus WordPro files, and then I got Word files. In fact, I still get WordPro files. What people send and what people receive will change over time – it has in the past and it will again in the future. With the post I hoped to stimulate some discussion around the issue. Perhaps you are right, people really are just as happy to get modifiable files. What do others think?
Bob
Bob,
I am in total agreement with you. In fact this has been a passion of mine through most of my professional life.
It drives me to distraction that people send mutable formats about the place without considering the effect of their action. I wonder how people would react if they were to receive formal communication on paper written with pencil?
May I suggest that sending a word processor file to someone is no more appropriate than using pencil and paper unless, of course, you are requesting that they edit or in some way collaborate with you to produce the finished document?