Jan
27
Well the vote is in, 65% of the residents who participated in the latest poll are willing to read or download an online version of the Spanish Cove Update. The rest of you (35%) like it just the way it is.
That’s good news since, if the Communication Committee can provide both options, we’ll save Cove dollars and some trees.
It’s a win-win situation.
Tags: communications committee, dollars, Polls, trees
Hi Dale, your compliments are appreciated, thank you
I’ll be adding a weekly article, to Cove Connections, called Cheap Freeware! I actually own the domain name cheapfreeware.com but haven’t had a chance to develop it since Cove Connections is taking most of my time. If you have any great freeware recommendations I’d love to hear about them, Sandra
What a great string of comments! It is respectful of others posting, clear and INFORMATIVE. I hope this one draws more comments.
Whenever I think of the government spending a TON of money buying different software – often custom. With all of the money spent on computers and software, they still can’t interact between divisions of the government. I hope this is taken into account when healthcare professionals begin to automate.
Once again, GREAT INTERACTION. I hope that it continues, or that a segment of CC be devoted to computer issues.
Wally, I agree, Open Office 3 is one of the best office suites around. I use it at home and, sometimes, at the office since it’s license includes individuals, businesses, governments etc can use. http://openoffice.org
Open Office includes Writer, Calc (spreadsheet), Impress (presentation), Draw (drawing) and Base (database). It also includes a pdf converter. Since, at home, I don’t use presentation, draw or database software I just install Writer and Calc which includes the pdf converter. The other applications can always be installed later.
I tried it out several years ago and was unimpressed, the learning curve was to great. Version 3, however, is so much like Microsoft Office that I’m considering migrating employees, who currently use Microsoft Office, to Open Office 3.
Considering that most businesses have to pay from $250.00 to $500.00 for a Microsoft Office license it’s not surprising that more and more are turning to Open Office 3 (freeware).
Free software can only be beaten by software they pay me to try. That hasn’thappened yet so I go free when possible. One program suite that everyone should consider is Open Office (OO). It is nearly identical (in capability, structure and utility) MS Office. It’s absolutely free. What’s especially nice about it is that it can, without difficulty, read MS Office files and save Open Office files in MS Office format. That means that there is not need for a translation program. And it means that everything that you have in MS Office can be opened and maniupulated with OO. OO is widely used in Europe especially by many governments who have gotten tired if bolstering Billy Gates bank account frequently for lots of money with precious few benefits. Want to build a presentation? No problem. Want to turn that into a web page? No problem. It really is a terrific suite that is kept updated with free updates as they become available. Check it out.
Or it might be: Ask Sandy an IT question?
Good idea, Ben!
How about an IT column: Sandy Sez!
Dick and Sally, so glad you like it.
There are lots of great, free, applications / software on the Internet that can save businesses / individuals LOTS of money.
Maybe, based on the current financial crisis, it’s time to start writing about them on CC?
Thanks, Sandra
I downloaded it, too. Did a test and it worked great!. It will make sending large files to the printer so much easier. Yay!
Sandra / Sally: Got curious and downloaded CutePDF Writer and the associated Ghostwriter converter. Works like a champ! And it’s FreeWare! You can buy the Pro Version, which adds some good features, for about $50. I converted a 3.6MB Publisher 2003 file to a 950KB PDF. Also converted a 60 page Word document. Went from 510KB to 260KB and it’s searchable. I’m impressed. We use Adobe Writer at my company (paid full price, of course) and CutePDF does everthing I need to do. Thanks for the info, Sandra!
Thanks, Sandra. I’ll try it. I do a lot of work with organizations, producing program books, etc. PDF will help. Being that all the work is volunteer, I wasn’t anxious to spend a lot of money on a new program.
Your welcome.
Appreciate it Sam, thanks!
It’s your decision. I just wanted to introduce a caution based upon my experience.
Sam, You’re right, some free programs are lousy, however, this is one of the best and I’ve been using it for years. All upgrades are free too. Highly recommend it.
Free programs are ok for the casual user but are unsupported for longevity. There’s no guarantee that they will function next month. I would stay with the “standard” vs. looking for a substitute. Spend the money. Your savings will offset the cost. You should stay in concert with Adobe Reader. That’s who they will support with their upgrades.
Sally, there are a number of free programs that will print to pdf.
I use CutePDF and it’s excellent.
http://cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp
Read the installation instructions and, after installing the software, open the document that you want to change to the pdf format. Then choose:
File -> Print -> CutePDF
The software will automatically create one pdf file for all of your document pages. You will have a choice of saving the new pdf file at different locations on your hard drive and, once it’s saved, open it in Adobe Reader.
I just tested it with Publisher 2003 a few minutes ago by creating one of it’s canned newsletters and printed to pdf and it worked perfectly.
Hope this helps, Sandra
Don’t you need a special program to transfer files to PDF? The Update is a Publisher file and I don’t think it can convert files to PDF, unless the newer version can. I was using 2002, but maybe they purchased a newer version that may be able to convert. The Adobe program costs close to $1000, I believe. Publisher can convert to PNG (Portable Network Graphics), though.
Here’s some more info relevant to PDF’s -
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Invented by Adobe Systems and perfected over 15 years, Portable Document Format (PDF) lets you capture and view robust information — from almost any application, on any computer system — and share it with virtually anyone, anywhere. Individuals, businesses, and government agencies around the world trust and rely on PDF to communicate their ideas and vision.
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One downer that may affect user readability would be that older versions of Windows may have a problem reading the newer Adobe Reader format. Usually requires Adobe Reader 6.02 and higher versions. Anything less than this are non supported and not down -loadable from Adobe. Shouldn’t be a problem if your operating system is Win 2000 or later.
Another thought would be to link your topics by categories allowing your reader to choose what interests them. Similar to what you see on Spanish Cove.org.
Sally, the Adobe pdf format solves the large file problem and text and images would be displayed in B&W or color. Sandra
At this point the Communications Committee hasn’t discussed it. It would be a very large file, so it may not be possible. We’ll discuss it at our next meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 4 at the office conference room. Those interested are invited to attend any time.
Would an on-line Update be an exact image of the print Update? That is, will we find advertising there too?
Hey Sam, thanks for your comment. Don’t worry, the Communications Committee, not Cove Connections, will determine if an online version of the Update and of vote of residents is needed. Thanks, Sandra
Those of you who frequent this board know that I am an outsider and don’t currently live in the Cove but I still have friends there. However, if I did, I would be a little upset that decisions are being made by those who run polls here. The last time I looked, I believe that you had something like 54 respondents either for or against this subject.I do feel that the Update should be published online but this decision should be put to a vote by the property owners of the Cove. You can’t just assume that they know about this blog as many are not interested nor computer literate enough to participate. So, in my opinions, your poll results are erroneous and shouldn’t be used as a decision making tool.