Many Mac Users would prefer not to own Microsoft Word, either because of the hefty purchase price, due to the AutoStart Worm virus risk, or simply because of antipathy toward Microsoft. However, Word has become as close to a word processing standard as exists in the personal computer orbit, and most of us encounter Word documents (".doc" files) we need to open fairly frequently.

This is a familiar irritation to desktop publishers and graphic designers, who tend to be Mac enthusiasts working in a PC world. They are being joined by an increasing number of home Mac users, who receive '.doc' email attachments or download MS Word files from the Internet. Until now, viewing Word files on a Mac meant purchasing expensive software, or hoping that Word documents were saved in a format that one's installed Mac software could recognize. Converted Word files often lost their formatting, creating extra work to reformat the original text. icWord eliminates this extra work, along with the frustration and expense previously associated with working with Microsoft Word files on a Mac.

My workaround is to open the Word file in Tex-Edit, extract the text content from the formatting gobbledygook, and save he result as a text document. Not terribly elegant, but it works for me.

However, there is now a more graceful solution. icWord, Israel-based Panergy Ltd.'s new Microsoft Word viewer for the Mac, enables Mac users to open, view, and print Microsoft Word files- with the original formatting preserved- and without using a Microsoft product!

"icWord is a simple solution to a common problem," according to Mickey Sonnenschein, Panergy's Director of Marketing. "We're excited that we can offer the worldwide Mac community a utility that is both inexpensive and so useful."

icWord is for any Mac user who wants to:
• Gain access to Microsoft Word files (PC or Mac created)
• Download Word files from the Internet
• Open email attachments from PC-centric friends and colleagues
• Save time lost to reformatting converted files
• View on screen and print Word docs with their original formatting preserved
. . . without buying and installing Microsoft Word.

icWord also helps you keep your Mac virus-free. When a virus is carried by a Word document, it is activated via a macro (a series of commands that automates tasks) embedded in the document. Because icWord does not execute any macros, you may use icWordwithout fear of infection, even if the original Word document is a virus carrier.

icWord enables you to work with Microsoft Word files created on both PCs and Macs -- open, view, print, decompress, and use Word files - without Word. Easy WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) functionality lets you see the original formatting, including:
• Font size and style
• Paragraph- margins, borders, alignment, line spacing, numbering
• Tabs
• Tables
• Headers and Footers
• Page attributes
• Graphics
• Colors

Dynamic viewing lets you:
• Scale from 50% to 400%
• Search for words in text
• Copy and drag text to other applications
• Open Zip and Stuffit files
• Navigate with Jumpmarks
• Customize font matching

Open all these Word formats:
• Microsoft Word® 2000
• Microsoft Word® 98 (Mac)
• Microsoft Word® 97 (Win 95/98)
• Microsoft Word® 7 (Win 95)
• Microsoft Word® 6 (Win 95)
• Microsoft Word® 2 (Win 3.1)
• Microsoft Word® files encoded in binhex or uuencode

System Requirements:
• System 7.1 and up
• minimum of 8MB free RAM

icWord supports MS Word:

• Tables
The structural form of the table is maintained, as well as the cells' contents (text, style and color).

• Graphics
- Inline graphics are preserved as they were originally created, allowing you to view a Word document as its creator intended.
- Fixed graphics can be viewed and preserved as well. However, since icWord• treats fixed graphics like inline graphics, their placement on the page may differ somewhat from the original document.
- Word Art text is preserved.
- Drawings are displayed, with the exception of some freeform drawings.

• Opening .zip and .sit files
icWord opens files which have been compressed by Zip or Stuffit. The decompression capability is built into the icWordsoftware!

• Navigate with Jumpmarks
Jumpmarks are portions of text that mark the beginning of sections in the document (based on stylistic features). icWord creates Jumpmarks automatically to help you navigate your document more quickly and efficiently.

• Customize font matching
icWord has a sophisticated font matching mechanism that displays the font closest to the one used in the original Word document. You can easily customize the font substitution mechanism in order to improve screen viewing and to facilitate exporting the text to other applications.

icWord is distributed exclusively at the Web site http://www.icword.com. Single licenses are $19.95. Free 30-day trials may be downloaded at http://www.icword.com.

Panergy is an Israel-based publisher that has been developing software for the Macintosh market since 1992. Panergy products are widely utilized throughout the desktop publishing industry in Israel. icWord introduces Panergy's technology to the worldwide market.

For More Information, visit:
http://www.icword.com

Charles W. Moore

.

February 09, 2012