The same document loaded into Word 2007 (left) and Buzzword.
Today's Netbytes column is about Buzzword, a new online word processor, which has just been bought by Adobe. I've been using the private beta version and I like it. However, it does run into some common problems when importing Word documents, and the reality is that today's world contains billions of Word documents.
I've been experimenting a lot with "round tripping" documents, which means uploading them to another word processor, saving them, then reloading them back into Word 2003 and 2007. It's something that Microsoft generally manages to do pretty well, if imperfectly, which is one reason why Word still rules.
Anyway, have a look at the picture at the top (click to enlarge). Buzzword doesn't do at all badly with a typically simple Word document (a Canon press release, picked at random from my inbox), but it has lost the letter-headed template, changed the line length and type face, and thus lost the pagination, which results in some bad page breaks. I could show you worse examples, of course.
One advantage of Google Docs is that it usually does pick up letter-headed paper, as shown in the example below (a Microsoft press release). Buzzword just ignores the yellow header. However, as you can see, Google Docs scrambles the one-line headline and puts it in the top right, which isn't useful. The main part of the copy is double-column in the original, which neither Buzzword nor Google Docs manages to handle (both change the document to single-column text). However, in the Google Docs example, you can only wonder where Point 4 went. That's a mystery.
Suffice it to say that we are still not ready to talk about "round tripping": the one-way tripping still has some way to go.
Bear this in mind when people tell you that Buzzword, Google Docs etc are "compatible with Microsoft Word." Sure they are.
