MS layout quirks

[e.mkeene]

I don't mess with MS products unless I really have to. Today I had to 
for a little while and I remembered all over again just what my 
predjudice is all about. I received some paperwork that put mostly text 
items in a spreadsheet format so math functions could be incorporated 
and it provided a template to fill in the blanks where appropriate.

When I opened the ss, it looked like it was on several pages. It was 
also too wide to be comfortable on the ibook so I then opened it on the 
23" Cinema display and it was not a lot better but more useable. Today 
I got an update on that ss and opened it on the 23". Again it looked 
like it was multiple pages. This time I had to print it out because the 
format was just to complex to deal with a section at a time. I was 
completely floored to find out this complex maze occupying the entire 
real estate on my 23" was only one page total, at least that's all 
Excel would admit to.

Trying to get it a bit larger and easier to read, I poked around the 
menus and discovered that there was about 1/4 of a page that didn't 
print. It took me about 30 minutes of trying various things before I 
was able to get it to print as a 2 page doc. No wonder everything costs 
so much. Someone (meaning us) has to pay for the added unproductivity 
of MS users.

 From what I saw today, it appears that Office is so chaotic that it's 
remarkable anybody gets the same results twice in a row. Each person 
using it can choose a completely different scheme to get their desired 
results and God help whoever is trying to duplicate it. Adobe could 
make a bundle by simply instituting a nominal charge for Acrobat Reader 
for PCs if they just printed instructions on how to get it to read MS 
docs the same way every time.

 From my limited exposures to Office, it appears to me to be totally 
lawless. Suppose we could get it arrested on that basis? 8? )