In message <329754CE.84D@cousens.her.forthnet.gr>, peter cousens writes:
> I can print pdf but don't want to, it takes so long !
> Excel is far quicker so please anything but pdf.
> Also maybe you should reconsider using pdf at mchip
> the 16f84 data sheet takes 12hours to print on my machine
> (486dx33 8meg ram hp-deskjet 540)
> I am personally near the point of refusing to accept any more
> pdf files as I do with Images (if I can't navigate a site without
> loading Images then I leave the site)
> If you have to ask what's wrong with loading images then you are
> too far from reality to help

        I am uncomfortable wasting everyone's time again, but the statements
in the above paragraphs make a beautiful point.  In my case, I don't use
Windows and will not until Microsoft cleans it up as an operating system
so that it is worth my investment in it and a new computer on which to run
it.  I may be able to hack the Excel format and make it work with no problem
and could probably do the same with PDF if it weren't for that !%#@
encryption monkey wrench which is thrown in to the works.

> I would like to thank John Magrane for posting this to the list
> in whatever form he finds the easiest

        I second that also.  The Excel binary is the next best thing to a
straight ASCII file since we do have some hope of recovering the information
from that.  The last time I checked, the Internet did not yet belong  to
Microsoft therefore no law would be broken if information that is freely
available was in a form that was virtually universal.

        Even PostScript is better since the methods for decoding it are
publicly available and all of us can work out the I/O problems to suit
ourselves without having to bother anybody else with them.

        ASCII text should be considered as almost sacred since it works
on even the oldest teletype machines (Heaven forbid!).

        What I would like to see is for MicroChip to have a robot that can
spit out an ASCII text when requested, of any document that can be displayed
this way.  That way, nobody would be out extra labor for something that would
probably have limited appeal, and the robot would insure that new material
could be had as soon as it was posted.

        I originally thought that the PDF's could be processed, but the
encryption ruins even that possibility.  MChip should at least make it possible
to download an unscrambled version of any freely available document.  That
might be good enough.  The present situation just doesn't work for me and
only marginally works for others for various reasons.

Martin McCormick WB5AGZ  Stillwater, OK 36.7N97.4W
OSU Center for Computing and Information Services Data Communications Group