TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: File Type Converter From:Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- COM Date:Fri, 10 Jan 1997 15:28:00 -0600
The bad news is there's no such thing as file type and creator codes on the
PC.
The good news is that this function is taken care of by the three letters
after the period.
The bad news is that some cross-platform applications are only cross-
platform if you're using the same version number of the application on
each platform.
Even more bad news is that changing the file type and creator codes, even
on a Mac, have no effect whatsoever on the file format, just like
relabeling a box of rocks as a box of eggs won't make them edible.
Telling a program that the file is in 6.5 format when it's really in
6.0 format won't make it more readable. It'll simply branch around a
filter in the code.
Wait a minute Egon, I'm a little unclear on this whole good/bad thing.
What Pagemaker is apparently telling you in its vile, twisted way is that it
belongs to the pseudo-cross-platform camp. If you have your old copy of
Pagemaker 6.0 for Windows you can open a Mac 6.0 file, apparently, but
otherwise you're out of luck.
Yes, this is brain-damaged. Software vendor policies don't have to be
logical or intelligent. Like when Adobe demanded I pay $150 to upgrade from
my 6-day-old copy of Persuasion 3.0 to the version of 3.0 that would run
natively on my PowerMac, after gleefully accepting my $150 to upgrade from
Persuasion 2.1 to 3.0 just a little while earlier, when this upgrade
delivered no additional features. Which is why I no longer use Persuasion, I
might add.
Have fun,
Arlen
Chief Managing Director In Charge, Department of Redundancy Department
DNRC 224
Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- Com
----------------------------------------------
In God we trust; all others must provide data.
----------------------------------------------
Opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.
If JCI had an opinion on this, they'd hire someone else to deliver it.
TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot- Send commands
to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/ or search and
browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html