jon litho wrote:
> Is it just me or is Microsoft's dominance in the software industry just as
> dangerous as the way Neo-Conservativism and US capitalism is rolled out
> across the globe.
Well, I wouldn't go THAT far, but ...
> We, as critical geographers, should use other platforms
> and packages which do the job better than Word, PowerPoint and Explorer. I
> switched to Apple 3 years ago and discovered the alternatives to Microsoft
> Office - they are out there and they are easier to use, more intuitive,
> much more effective and dont crash...ever!
... I have to say that I always scratch my head (and grumble) a bit when
critical and radical geographers -- who otherwise rail against the
injustices of global capitalism -- send Word documents to their
colleagues without thought, often for mundane things that could just as
easily be communicated in plain text emails.
I'm a Mac user too, but I find the platform wars boring. The bigger
issue is about open standards and file formats; about whether
information should be free and accessible, or controlled -- in part
through mechanisms like proprietary file formats -- by convicted
corporate felons.
Of course, never mind that often large corporations publish our work,
including the textbooks we use in our classes.
With respect to the latter, I've in mind for awhile the idea of a
collaborative textbook produced under a Creative Commons license.
More at:
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html
http://creativecommons.org/
--
Bruce D'Arcus, PhD
Miami University
Department of Geography
234 Shideler Hall
Oxford, Ohio 45056
513-529-1521
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