Please have a look at the attached file. It is a Microsoft Word 2000 file,
which is "supposed" to be the same format as Word 97. As you can see, when
opened in either MS Word 97 or MS Word 2000, the formatting is quite
different to when opened in AbiWord. The main problems are lack of table
support, centred text and headers/footers.
I have one client in particular who is interested in AbiWord. Community Aid
Abroad is a non-profit international aid agency operating from Australia.
They have a number of computers of varying age and configuration, mainly
running Windows 95, Windows 98 and Linux. They have standardized on the
Microsoft Word 95/6.0 file format as their company standard. This allows
them to use whichever applications they have access to, and whichever
operating system is applicable to each computer.
I notice that AbiWord supports saving files as .html as well as .rtf, .txt
and .abw formats. Would it be possible to also include MS Word 95/6.0 as
one of the supported file formats? This is a quite widely accepted file
format, not just for CAA.
I would very much like for CAA to be able to use AbiWord - it would be good
to be able to use a single word processor that runs on all operating systems
they are likely to be using, especially at the price! :-) As you can no
doubt understand, the more money that can be spent on aid, rather than
computers and software, the better.
Without being unfairly accused of Microsoft bashing, or being a closet
Microsoft supporter, I'd like to say that competition in any market can only
make products better. Competition in the computer software industry
promotes stability, functionality and high performance whilst reducing
"bloatware".
I honestly hope AbiWord (and any future AbiSource products) get the market
interest and usage they deserve. I certainly would be interested in
supporting AbiWord - I can beta test for you, however am unable to offer
coding ability. From what I have seen, AbiWord looks quite nice, functions
quite well, and needs a bit of work in some areas. I will be sure to keep
up to date with the progression of AbiWord, and would like to congratulate
all who have brought it this far.
Keep up the good work,
Regards,
Hilton Travis