Note to Self, Not Green, On Software

I've been spending my Easter weekend completing a project. I'm sure most people reading this have had the experience of "technological roadblocks." Because I spent several years in a country where English is not the primary language, and because my husband has a different first language, a lot of our software tends to remain English-challenged. Microsoft Office, for example. I often need this application, and when projects like this come up, I often need to do "operations" I don't normally do. Trying to figure them out in a foreign language often proves to be more trouble than it's worth. The workarounds were rather interesting. I'm making a note here so that maybe I'll remember next time how to deal with these "situations," rather than always having to "reinvent the wheel."

I needed to make a flow chart. Microsoft Word was making me say all sorts of vile, insensitive things about software designers. I tried using good old Paint. No go. Making your own arrows using the "polygon" tool is not for the size and direction perception and steady-hand challenged. I tried Paint.net. It seemed like I'd have to learn a new language before I could get it to do what I wanted. Finally, I reverted to Open Office. It could be merely the fact that the software was in English, but it seemed much more cooperative than Microsoft Word, and the same for its version of Excel for making my bar charts.

Unfortunately, once I got my flow charts all tweaked and ready, I needed to insert them into my primary Word Document. (I was planning to print this all off and upload the file elsewhere, and Open Office wouldn't work, although it does make it possible to convert to .doc format.) I couldn't save the files as jpeg's, and if I inserted them into my primary Word Document, the formatting turned into a massive foot stomping, blood pressure spiking problem. The solution? Convert the documents to PDF in Open Office and then open them with Acrobat, take a "snapshot" and paste them into my Word Doc.

Ridiculous. Clearly the software is in charge, not the operator. Is Open Office really better? It's definitely cheaper, as in free, like all the best things in life, I guess.

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