File Format Hell, pt 2

Ah, so you think that it would all just work out, wouldn’t you? that after deciding to convert everything to RTF I’d be free of all my previous problems.

Right.

I noticed something was wrong when I decided that I’d like to be able to read and possibly edit files on my phone. Both QuickOffice and DocsToGo are fantastic programs for on the go editing and I was ready, no eager, to pay for them.

Until i looked at the files they support: doc, docx. No RTF, hell no TXT, they only support MS Office files.

Really.

So while I can, through the fantastic cloud work of Dropbox, get my stuff to my phone, I cannot edit it. Cool Reader lets me read it, so there is that.

Next up is Pages. Apple’s word processor has mostly been ignored by me since it came out. Why? NeoOffice. I already have a word processor, and I didn’t need another one. Especially one with ANOTHER proprietary format.

Then 10.7 comes out and Apple announces a whole bunch of features for iCloud. Naturally their Pages program is a part of this whole deal. So I thought, what the hell, you have it sitting around, give it a shot.

And I checked! Pages supports RTF files. Fantastic.

Then came the nerd rage. Pages does support RTF, this much is true. You can open RTF files. You can export to RTF files.

Yes, you read that right: export. You cannot SAVE as RTF, EVEN IF YOU OPENED AN RTF. Open an RTF, make changes, you have to save it as either a .pages file or a .doc file. Then you can export that file to an RTF.

WTFBBQ?

Despite the ease of RTF in a lot of realms, there are some truths to be accepted.

  1. For better or worse, the world as a whole has accepted .DOC as the universal format.
  2. Companies want you to be locked into their stuff, so will continue to insist you use their format.
  3. Whatever I pick will be the wrong answer.

For now I am sticking by my guns on RTF. I don’t need the bloat of a doc file, or the hassle of explaining how to open an ODT file.

And I’m just hoping that QuickOffice will support RTF. I’ll not be jumping to .doc anytime soon. The problem is still the future. A future where I can open my files and start writing, rather than worry about conversions.

Or worse, losing something in the dark pit that is ‘unsupported file types’.

A Month in the Life, July

Look at that, posting something about July in July. Much better than last month.

July has been good. I got a new camera, a Nikon Coolpix P300. It is a point and shoot, but has manual options for aperture and shutter speed. Small, so I have been taking it lots of places with me. While I am still learning a lot of camera settings, I think I’ve gotten a few good shots. Here is a recent one from a pool side afternoon and more up on my flickr page.

Pool Reflection

There also has been a lot of Doctor Who. I am near the end of my adventure and it has been fun. Currently stumbling over the last few scenes, but these things happen. Current word count is 65,000 words, which is a lot of words. I changed themes on my blog (see?) and moved all the episodes over here for easier reading.

I did start working on an overall website redesign for this site. I figured out all the technical parts, now for the design part…

I’ve been thinking about what I’ll be working on after I’ve finished my Doctor adventure. Trying to decide between creepy kids, ninjas or the Trojan War.

A Month in the Life, June

Slacker!

It is July. I know. but that seems to be the theme overall in June: a bit of slacking. There was art, there was work, there was a lot of things. But there was mostly slacking.

So did I do 30 things? one for each day of June? I don’t know. I haven’t counted yet…

I did break a personal milestone, a person barrier if you will. My Doctor Who story is now over 50,000 words. Now that isn’t quite full length novel, but it isn’t quite finished yet. Still it is a milestone i’ve always looked at and wanted. Now I have it. And i am writing the last two episodes and still loving it each step of the way.

Now I haven’t been posting it (slacker!) because I’ve been bogged down in presentation. It is easy to be bogged down in presentation. I like TiddlyWiki, a lot even, but I am not sure I like it for the Who stuff. Still I should be posting, rather than waiting. And I will. I have a few ideas, but I’ll work and post.

I did get a few shots with a new camera. I spent the better part of two weeks fretting over a new camera. I wanted one and went from wanting a massive DSLR rig I could not afford, to a smaller one, to eventually a Nikon Coolpix P300 which has all the manual features, but fits easily in my pocket. Here is a shot from the first day playing with it.

Glasses

July will be a month of less slacking. I have a new camera. I have more energy. And most dangerously, I have some ideas.