Microsoft Office Files in Linux
OpenOffice.org
OpenOffice.org is a free and open source office suite that is designed to read and write files written in Microsoft Office, as well as save in it's own format. It is this set of programs that will be used to read your Microsoft Office documents.
Please be aware that these programs will work for most Office documents but sometimes the conversion will not be perfect. If you want to be sure that your files will look correct, make them in OpenOffice.org (there is a windows version), and bring them with you.
Using OpenOffice
To use these programs all you need to do is start up openoffice by either typing ooffice in a terminal, or running it from the menu of your window manager (KDE, Gnome, etc). You can then use their open dialog to find your files.
There should also be a menu entry for OpenOffice.org in your default Gnome or KDE menu.
Rich Text Format
Rich Text Format is a Microsoft file format created to improve the interoperability different word processors on disparate platforms. It has been accepted as a standard format for encoding document attributes in a plain ASCII file. It uses mark up tags to show where in the document there should be bold, underline, or tab and font changes. Almost every word processor can output files in the RTF format, and an RTF file can be read in any text editor. It is possible to read and modify the ASCII codes as plain text, but the process is greatly simplified by using an RTF aware editor.
The RTF format has some limitations and may not reproduce all of the formatting present in a word processor's native file format. RTF's biggest advantage is its portability.
Ted
The RTF aware editor which we have installed in the Linux labs is called Ted. To run Ted, just type Ted at the command line. Notice that it begins with a capital T. Ted is not a pretty editor, but it is very functional and adequate for most purposes.