.xls microsoft spreadsheets cannot be uploaded.

And if you are intersted in not using MS Office try

www.openoffice.org/

Or www.sun.com/software/star/staroffice/index.jsp , free download for educational use... ;-)

Cheers,
~Al (and now ends the plug for free software from my gracious employer)

One question Al, what's the difference between Openoffice and Staroffice or are they much-of-a-muchness??

You can get print drivers for Windows that do the same so that way you can save any MS Office document to a PDF form within word.

Just wondering where you can get this and is it free :

You can get a free one here:

www.pdf995.com/

and also Adobe do a very good one that comes with a lot of their products.

I understand where you are coming from Bart and the philosophy behind it. However, I do think a more practical approach should be taken. Opensource is a great idea but I do think the website should not be afraid of proprietary software either.

So you think it is OK to exclude members from content on this site? I dissagree. This site is open and should stay open!

If I want to upload a doc file, the opensource fans should be able to open it.

Not if MS have their way! They are actively working to make it as hard as possible to open a Word document in non-MS liscenced products and I heard some rumblings about court cases a while ago where MS were gonna try to kill the Open source projects that allow people to read and create word documents without MS Liscenced software.

If the file only contain text, then saving it as a txt file isn't a problem - that's fair enough. However, If I want to upload a spreasheet or a word doc with photos etc do I have to download a 70+MB program so that I can convert it to an opensource format just so that I can upload it to here? Are there any other options open to me??

You don't have to go mad to support open formats! The PDF print driver I linked to in my post above will do the trick for you and it's both free and small to download!

If you are going to share stuff with the world then you need to use openformats, otherwise you're not sharing it with the world but discriminating against people who can't or won't waste their money on expensive software.

And if you are intersted in not using MS Office try

www.openoffice.org/

Or www.sun.com/software/star/staroffice/index.jsp , free download for educational use... ;-)

Cheers,
~Al (and now ends the plug for free software from my gracious employer)

One question Al, what's the difference between Openoffice and Staroffice or are they much-of-a-muchness??

OpenOffice is a branch of Star Office. Basically at one point they were the same product but Sun went one way with it and OO went another.

I'm with Mick on this one. I have zero qualifications in computers or IT and am often baffled by discussions involving what are probably simple concepts for people with even a smidgeon of computer know-how, including ideas like open source. Like the majority of people on this planet though I use Microsoft products. Excluding many users just because you disagree with the work ethics of the manufacturer of their product is futile, pointless and elitist in my view. It would be like me refusing students with NIKE or ADIDAS bags into my classroom just because I hate those companies (and there are a lot of reasons to hate them - shame on anyone who has a product made by one of these companies). It would be unfair of me.

This is a forum for astronomy. Not for people who support open-source programs and abhor Microsoft and are into astronomy.

Shane
(ready to go down in flames!)

Will pdf work with spreadsheets?
Can someone on dial-up realistically download the Openoffice program?
Does your average Joe Soap who has a passing interest in astronomy an a very average knowledge of computers/software really be expected to avoid using Microsoft software?
I could understand Bart that you may want to encourage opensource software, but to place a ban on software which the vast majority of people have, is not lookng at the bigger picture.
BTW, don't get me wrong, the ethics of MS are far from ideal. However, you don't cut off your face to spite your nose.