Did you know that different computer programs often save their files in different formats?  Formats that other computer programs can't open or alter.  Wouldn't it be great if all computer programs could just talk to each other and read each other's files automatically?  Yeah, that would be great, but there are all kinds of reasons why that won't be a reality for a very long time, if ever.

So now you have to live in reality, and it isn't pretty!  Having a Macintosh as my primary computer in a predominantly Windows world brings the ugly reality to the surface quite often for me.  But it's not just a Windows vs. Mac problem, not by a long shot.

Example: Your friend has the newest version of Microsoft Word, 2007, and he creates a document and saves it on his computer.  Everytime he double-clicks on that file, it starts up Word automatically and presents the file to him - perfect!  Then, he needs to send that file as an e-mail attachment to you.  The problem is that you  haven't upgraded to the latest version of Word yet, so you are using Microsoft Word 2003.  Guess what?  You can't open his file, at least not without downloading and installing an extra plugin from Microsoft.

Why?  With the new version of Word, Microsoft created a new file format that Word 2007 can work with, but previous versions of Word can't.  In case you didn't know, file formats are typically recognized by the extension on the end of the file name.  Up until Word 2007, a Word document had the extension ".doc".  Now, the new format is ".docx".

There are numerous ways to get around this issue using the software that you have, but they all involve having the person who originally created and sent the document save the file in a format that you, who is receiving the document, can actually read, and that, my friends, is a MAJOR pain in the hind quarter.

Example 2: Your buddy sends you a video that he says is so hilarious, you'll be laughing about it in your sleep tonight.  When you receive the video, it won't open in QuickTime on your Macintosh computer.  Why?  It is in Windows Media Format, ".wmv", which everyone can view natively on their Windows computer, except for you, because you don't have a Windows computer.  Yay.

So what do you do?  The answer is quite simple, and it covers both of the examples above, as well as many others.  Check out www.zamzar.com!

This website converts a bunch of file formats to other file formats for free, including office applications documents, photos, audio, and video files.  This service has been a life saver for me and it's a must use tool for teachers.  A BIG TIME bonus with this website is its ability to take a YouTube video straight from the YouTube.com website and convert it into a video file that you can download to your computer and use in your presentations at your leisure.

Have fun!