I am an instructor for a local college. My courses are
provided in an asynchronous, online delivery format. The
entire system is Windows-based.
One student has a Mac and wishes to use Office X for his
assignments.
Are the resulting files at all compatible?
Is it an unnatural act to expect this to work?
How much effort is required to make this work?
Any nuances to be aware of regarding Word & Excel?
....thanks...Joe T.

On 08-25-2003 7:53 AM, in article 0a9001c36b07$dca0ba90$a101280a[at]phx.gbl,
"Joe Touchette" <jtouchet[at]us.ibm.com> wrote:

> I am an instructor for a local college. My courses are
> provided in an asynchronous, online delivery format. The
> entire system is Windows-based.
> One student has a Mac and wishes to use Office X for his
> assignments.
> Are the resulting files at all compatible?

Basically, yes. Just save in Office 97 or later format.

> Is it an unnatural act to expect this to work?

No, but sometimes the developers do not anticipate all expectations. I
regularly share Excel and Word (and PowerPoint) files with people on
PeeCees.

> How much effort is required to make this work?

Very little. Just do not require floppy disks, Macs do not have floppy
drives anymore. Exchange files online via email or FTP.

> Any nuances to be aware of regarding Word & Excel?

The main nuance I've found is the printer records. You may need to reselect
the page orientation and check the margins after loading a document before
you can print it correctly. Also, fonts tend to look smaller on the Mac, and
larger on PeeCees, but this is minor.

Keith Esau
kaesau[at]sbcglobal.net

Keith, many thanks for your reposnse ... Joe T.
>-----Original Message-----
>On 08-25-2003 7:53 AM, in article 0a9001c36b07$dca0ba90
$a101280a[at]phx.gbl,
>"Joe Touchette" <jtouchet[at]us.ibm.com> wrote:
>
>> I am an instructor for a local college. My courses are
>> provided in an asynchronous, online delivery format. The
>> entire system is Windows-based.
>> One student has a Mac and wishes to use Office X for his
>> assignments.
>> Are the resulting files at all compatible?
>
>Basically, yes. Just save in Office 97 or later format.
>
>> Is it an unnatural act to expect this to work?
>
>No, but sometimes the developers do not anticipate all
expectations. I
>regularly share Excel and Word (and PowerPoint) files
with people on
>PeeCees.
>
>> How much effort is required to make this work?
>
>Very little. Just do not require floppy disks, Macs do
not have floppy
>drives anymore. Exchange files online via email or FTP.
>
>> Any nuances to be aware of regarding Word & Excel?
>
>The main nuance I've found is the printer records. You
may need to reselect
>the page orientation and check the margins after loading
a document before
>you can print it correctly. Also, fonts tend to look
smaller on the Mac, and
>larger on PeeCees, but this is minor.
>
>Keith Esau
>kaesau[at]sbcglobal.net
>
>.
>