Word documents are not backwards compatible . Each new release of Word locks the user into an upgrade path, because once a document has been updated by a later version, it cannot be read by an earlier version. Or worse, it can, but generates incorrect results. Word documents are bloatware . The size of word documents is out of proportion to their contents.
Word does a shonky job of converting to other formats .
The message was originally sent to another member of the department who would have forwarded it on to ALL members of this department but for the fact that a combination of them still insisting on using POP mail and a Mac combined to prevent them from forwarding the message. Surely a link to a web page would be a much more efficient way of distributing large amounts of documentation around this organization. If there is a policy covering this perhaps it is time for an All-Monash message pointing this out. Let's face it even the most robust of mail systems could be brought to its knees with distributions of information as mentioned above. What to Do about Microsoft I've written a procmail script that filters out Word documents arriving in my mailbox, and sends a politely worded response to the originator.