(Click the pic to enbiggen it)
If you work in a mixed software environment, the chances are that someone will soon send you a file that none of your programs can open. Allow me to introduce you to Zamzar.
You can upload a wide variety of file types to their site, you fill out a very simple e-mail address form, specify your preferred output format and after ruminating for a few minutes, it bungs you an e-mail telling you that your file (or files) is ready for download. (See the simple 4 step process by clicking the picture above)
This has been a godsend to me recently. Although the students are under strict orders to only submit their essays in Word .doc format, some of them (the ones who never read their e-mails and whose Daddies have bought them spanking new multicore laptops loaded with the execrable but shiny Windows Vista, and a fresh copy of Microsoft Office 2007 that saves file in a format that no other machine on earth can read) insist on saving their work as Microsoft .docx files.
I send the student a tiny pocket sized rant, and then I submit the file to ZamZar.
They also convert many other file types, without you having to own the original software. Sorted.
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