910 LARP.

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None of the word processing software on my computer can understand my old files. None of my old software works with Windows 7. It’s a good thing I didn’t do anything to my old system because as far as writing goes the new one is useless at the moment. I’ve tried several conversion programs with no results. At this point the only way to transfer the old files is to write them online and then copy paste them into a new file with a program 7 can understand. This is a new problem for me because up to this point Microsoft was pretty much backwards compatible on some level with every program it ever made. It was something I took for granted with the new one.

The stripped down version of Office that came with the new PC is crap. There’s way too much junk going on on the edges of everything. All I want to do is write words. Windows very much wants me to do SO MUCH MORE. So much more for several hundred dollars to get the full version… I know that people hated how unfair it was that Microsoft got to have all their sofware on new PCs but it really sucks not getting anything at all with one. I’m looking in to open source word programs now. So far I am unimpressed. You get what you pay for apparently. Unless you steal something, in which case you get what someone else paid for.

I need to network these computers together somehow, I guess. It’ll be like talking to a caveman, but at least I could transfer files faster.

69 Comments

Mike understands what is best in life. It’s all about the tree magic and quick casting spells. Surely his enemies will fall before him like bowling pins.

I suggest you give Open Office a try. It’s free and works well with pretty much every word document I’ve seen. It’s open sourced (like most Linux stacks) so people keep adding additional fixes and features constantly.

It’s not like you’d be any worse off than you already are.

Actually, the supported open source version is now called LibreOffice. I use it, but unfortunately the .doc (and therefre .docx) format is platform dependant (and apparently machine dependant as well).

You may want to look into getting a NAS for your files.

It isn’t so bad but if you try to import it to another machine it gets all stupid. It used to work fine for me and now it doesn’t work at all on my PC. If it’s short, I get around it by copy/pasting it into an email and opening it on my pc/transferring it to word that way.

Mike, I approve 100%. Magic is the way to go. now if only you could rig some kind of launching system on the axe so you could swing and launch your magic at foes by channeling ranged touch attacks through your weapon. Not sure if you can actually do that with ranged touch attacks, but if anyone can find a way, it’s you.

I have no idea how you could do that in real life, but, as far as I know in 4.0, warlocks (maybe wizard but I have no idea. Never played one.) can use a ceremonial knife instead of a wand to cast. It gives a bonus to hit and you can, of course, stab people with it…

LibreOffice is the split off from Open Office. Open source, completely free, and reads everything Microsoft Office ever has

Ha-haa! yah you should make a wallpaper of Mike as Thor, c/w horned helmet and all… albeit a ‘chunky’ Thor =) it’d take a hefty shield to cover that belly.

btw, how old are your old files if office can’t handle them? are they in wordstar or ?… if you just want basics, try Wordpad. or as the others suggested try Open Office, or even Star Office.

Oh god, in picturing that I totally found myself picturing Him as Olaf the Stout, Ed as Balrog the Fierce, and Nina/Thomas as Eric the Swift.

My day has been made, kind sir, and I believe I owe it to you. WOOT!

Thats odd, essentially everything I own works on Windows 7 (unless its so old that it didn’t work on xp/vista either). I dunno anything about a stripped down version of office either, are you sure you aren’t talking about wordpad? They gave it a new windows 7 style menu but its still just the slightly fancier version of notepad thats been around as long as I’ve been using computers.

If you have any old office discs, you can try installing them on your new computer. My copy of office 2007 was good for 3 computers and even if it wasn’t they let you uninstall and reinstall.

I use a customized version of OOO to include a few editing options I use frequently. Like the GIMP vs. PShop argument, if you started with the Open software, getting used to the closed-source gear and having to pay for it usually seems ludicrous. To a lesser extent, it applies to 3D software for me too, but I use both Maya and Blender, and generally prefer Blender (tons faster and Maya takes issues with scripting certain things, iirc).

But on top of that, I’m a programmer, and someone who actually likes his computer and knowing what it does. There’s nothing in my life that I use that I don’t understand, so it’s hard for me to understand people who prefer something to “just work”… not that I look down on those people, I understand the concept of a specialized society, but aspergers and empathizing with people who I see as completely different from me is something beyond my ability… which is why I tend to avoid people, I suppose, because, ya know, I don’t understand them. *shrugs*

Sorry for the rant… just got up, I’m sure I’m tired.

I’d say you’re probably taking your own background for granted when trying to understand the “just work” mindset. Look back across your life and try to count all the hours and efforts it took to get you the degree of programming knowledge you have today, and imagine how that must look to someone who doesn’t already have the same. You’re just seeing the skills you already have, they’re seeing the gigantic investment of time and effort they’d need to go through, and they’re seeing it all at once instead of all spread out like it is in your memory. To use an analogy, you’re whizzing past, only thinking about your current velocity, while they’re thinking about the acceleration they’d need to match that from a standing start, and in time to catch up within an extremely short distance.

Back in the day computers were something relatively esoteric, and owning or using one meant you kind of had to be a geek and to some degree a programmer. Those days are long gone now. Computers and their software are mainstream appliances, almost like cars and microwave ovens, but there’s a lot of programmers out there who’re still mentally stuck back in the “what business do you have with a computer if you don’t know how to script?” days.

At this point that’s like expecting anyone who just needs a way to get to work and the store and their friend’s place to have or want a background in auto engineering. While there will be plenty of “car guys” who do take an interest, most just need the utility of of the device itself to keep up in the modern world, and learning about what’s under the hood represents such a massive undertaking as to have no place in their already full lives. Especially when there are professionals who have made that their life they can pay to do the tinkering for them.

Division and specialization are the necessary reality of a technological society. Much of what we use on a daily basis represents several lifetime’s worth of accumulated man hours of study and work. Understanding all of it just isn’t realistic for an individual person, even when it comes to hobby interests, so people have to triage what they need to understand, what they can afford to understand, and what they have to leave up to other people to understand for them out of everything they need to use.

The more you know about your car, the more you can get out of it. The more you know about your computer, the more you can get out of it.

There’s kind of a point in the what business do you have owning a computer if you don’t know script. It’d be like somebody owning a car and not knowing how to change their oil. Sure, you don’t need to know how to do it, but then you have to rely on someone else to do it and pay out the nose for your ignorance.

In both instances, the information is pretty cheap and even free if you know where to look(such as public libraries).

I only care that my car “just works” because I barely use one in the first place. If someone says that they want a computer that “just works,” it sounds like they’re not going to use it anyways.

Crave–

What word processor were you using before? I might be able to do the file format conversions for you (although I’m only a mere Computer Scientist). There’s no fast path to convert the old Word .doc to the new .docx format, but it’s easy enough to do. If you were using something else, I can still probably do the conversion, but it will be a little uglier — but since you just want the text and you’re not obsessive about formatting, no worries.

Last year, I became disgusted with Open Office.org (OOo) and its clone Libre Office, and broke down and spent $120 at Sam’s Club for a 3-machine copy of MS Office Home and Student — my laptop, netbook and Home Theater machines are now all Microsoft compliant. Between OOo and Word 2010, I’ve even opened old Word*Star files I wrote in 1991. Now if only I could read my moldy old 5ΒΌ” disks…

–Perfesser

Is there something flaky going on with the forum system? It accepts the comment, does’t post it, then tells me I tried to post a duplicate comment.

If a comment contains certain triggers the site holds it as spam till I moderate it.

Yup — got that. Some other sites do the same thing: well-known Business Names, anything with a dollar sign, some special characters et cetera.

Ah Mike, creative yet practical at the same time.
Battle Axe for defense since those darts don’t fly all that fast, with the added bonus of being easier to handle than a sheild.
No reload or weapons jam issue with the “casting” of magic missiles. Also much greater rate of fire and more likely better aim and power.

1) Notepad is always an option, especially if I understand you correctly, and you don’t want a lot of formatting?

2) PC World’s latest edition recommends Kingsoft Office Suite 2012. It comes in Free, Standard ($50) and Professional ($70) editions. I haven’t tried it, and I’m not recommending it, just suggesting one more thing to look at.

3) Have you considered a virtual PC or Windows XP mode (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/install-and-use-windows-xp-mode-in-windows-7 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BrhIkDjvQo)? There are several options available to run a virtual computer with it’s own operating system ‘inside’ your computer, but Windows Virtual PC may be the simplest way to go. Then you won’t have to convert anything!

Mike = win :)

Have you tried converting them to an .rtf file? *Most* word processors recognize that extension (Open Office being a notable exception) and it will let you keep at least most of your formatting. Another option would be to convert them to .txt files, but then you lose all your formatting. I have Office 2010 on my laptop, and I hate its Word setup(even without the ads the lower-grade version came with), so I now have Open Office for basic word processing & (sometimes) spreadsheets, and yWriter for my big projects. Hope this helps!

What do you mean “Open Office being a notable exception”? I’ve been using OO for years now and never had a problem with opening .rtf files with it or saving into that format.

But I must strongly confirm that Mike in this comic is pure win! And that my opinion of him just went up. :)

Allene–

The RTF suggestion is an excellent one — I should have thought of it here. I used to use it all the time dealing with creating documents from Lotus Notes messages. The one caveat is that it will only work with Microsoft Operating Systems; most other software companies’ Windows word processors should read it and write it. Anything Crave has used in the past should be able to output RTF.

Another option is HTML; it’s sort of balky and clunky, but virtually any word processor will read and write it — and you can read it with any browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox) and ‘cut and paste’ (screen scrape) to a new document. Pretty much a final desparation option

–Perfesser

There’s an old Sufi riddle that goes, “How can you build a hole in your garden wall so your chickens can get into your neighbor’s garden but your neighbor’s chickens can’t get into your garden?”

Microsoft mostly succeeded at that with RTF. It’s their proprietary portable document format, and they carefully designed it to be self-incompatible so that MS programs can read it even when it comes from outside sources, but non-MS programs can’t read MS RTF files.

But now they don’t care about it any more and MS products increasingly find it hard to read RTF documents.

I think the take-home lesson here is that it doesn’t work to halfway buy Microsoft. Either buy the whole thing, or stay away entirely. Also try to avoid mixing MS products with other products. If you never use anything but MS you’ll have fewer compatibility problems than if you try to use something else sometimes.

Holy crap, watch out he’s packin’ Melf’s Acid Arrow! That’s 2d4 acid damage a round for I think 3 rounds!… Oh.. and a Axe too.

Maybe he’s cross class? I mean the only ways I could see him doing it are that he is a level 3 Wizard who for his level 3 feat, took Martial Weapon Proficiency (or a level 5 Sorceror), or he is a cross class of level 3 wiz/lvl 5 sorc and at least one level of fighter.

Still be careful guys, you never know what else he might have!

My innate response is “Clearly, the axe is a shapeshifted/illusioned wand”.

But since he’s not wearing any armor, it’s conceivable he’s just a fighter/MU dishin’ it out with both hands (But Mike having a 16 dex does, indeed, seem strange).

But that’s my set for you. I play a happy hybrid of 1.0 and 2.0 rules~

Or perhaps he found the legendary Kaladoscope of Alchemic lore, the liquid-made-blade weapon that can change into the shape of whatever he wants, said to have a circular slot that was said to fit perfectly the Philosopher’s Stone. But that’s only if you mix DnD with mythos.

And I prefer 3.0~3.5. Screw 4.0, it absolutely mauled everything that made a magic-user a magic-user, Druids just got t-bagged. I could rant about it, but I doubt anyone would care, haha.

Three things. First: I’M FINALLY CAUGHT UP! WHOOOO!!! this is an epicly funny Slice-O’-Life you got running here buddy, loved every panel of it. Second: as a fan of both the goofy Mike and many things fantasy that last panel had me laughing so much I pissed myself. and Last but not Least: I really love your characters in both design and back-story, I am planning on writing a book in the near future and was wondering if I could steal some of the characters from here or at least base so me of those not set in stone by my image off of some of the one from here.

Glad you enjoyed the comic. It’s a lot to work through, I know. Unfortunately I can’t offer up any of the characters for use in other works. They’re a little too close to me and some of their backstories are just my life. XD You’ll have to come up with your own characters I’m afraid.

Awwww…. Ah well, back to the drawing board.

Are references/crossovers acceptable?

I don’t have any problems with my works being referenced, since I reference other works constantly. I would want to have some level of control over crossovers.

If you’re serious about that then you should probably email me so I can find out what sort of book you intend to write.

Heh… For a moment when I first saw “LARP” I misread it as “LART”.

LART = Lamer/Loser Attitude Readjustment Tool/Technique

I love that final panel to death, but all of a sudden I can’t help but hear that last line in Veigar’s voice. That man somehow seems even less intimidating with the voice of a demented midget.

If you can get a copy of Office 2003, you should use that. It installs and runs fine on 7, though you’ll have to download the compatibility pack to read newer Office files.

WELP Mike wins forever no one can beat magic especially with pitiful weapons oh well playing my bets of Nina as the runner up in shooting but sadly i doubt even she can beat MAGIC

If LibreOffice couldn’t read your old files, I’d be shocked. Frankly, I’ve given up on Windows for everything but gaming. I use Ubuntu these days.

1. I have to say, I have to give props to both Jolene and Jessica’s attitudes. Jolene’s ‘at least I’m getting attention on my terms’ and Jessica’s embarrassment when she’s not in control of how her body is being shown off are actually pretty cool. It’s a nice change of pace.

2. I have to say, I originally thought Mike was a throw-away character. However, over the time we’ve known him, he’s evolved into a full-fledged character. I’m actually rooting for him to outlast the 6-month mark and keep going, completely oblivious to corporate’s attempts to get rid of him.

Also, Mike gained a lot of points in this strip. When properly motivated, he’s clearly capable of thinking outside the box. Bravo, and good luck to him.

for your files youre trying to transfer into windows 7? upload to google.. download to new computer. 7 is sposed to auto convert the files to a readable format. o.o

The gun is mightier than the sword… but only at a range of more than about twenty feet. Which is roughly the range at which a competent swordsman can close the distance and strike faster than a typical gunman can get off an aimed shot.

Nerf guns frequently require slow and unreliable manual re-readying between shots, too.

I typically bring a sword to the gunfight when playing Nerf. And I have nigh on twenty years of armored combat experience. Better get me with the first shot. You won’t get a second one.

I freakin’ love Mike. Every time he shows up he does something that makes me like him more and more. With this page I think he beat out Ed as my favorite character.

I can’t believe I never commented that I stuck to plain text for everything for most of my computing life. Granted, Mouse basically said the same thing with “Notepad. Plx.” There’s ways to highlight everything and they never get annoying like when an app italicizes the word in front of the italic word you’re about to insert, or junk like that. OSs sometimes try to block it, but the only ones which half0way succeed are mobile OSs which aren’t the friendliest things to type on anyway. I made the mistake of switching to RTF 10 years ago when I briefly used Mac OS X which semi-trapped my files when my hackintosh broke, but I had a real (if older) Mac to recover them with. More recently, Zim has been annoying me with bugs including the italic thing I just mentioned, but it’s save format is markdown/wiki-ish so the data’s not trapped at all. I still use it because not having to save is awesome. https://zim-wiki.org/index.html So is linking between pages. I used the Acme text editor which can do that in plain text, so long as your file and folder names don’t have spaces. The trouble with Acme is it doesn’t word wrap.

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