[comp.sys.mac] Universal File Converter

STORKEL@RICE.BITNET (Scott Storkel) (02/07/89)

I am interested in writing a program that takes a number of standard word
processing files as input and will convert them to other common file formats.
Ideally the program would be able to handle MacWrite, MS Word, WriteNow, RTF,
and possibly  troff and Script files as input and would be able to output them
as MacWrite, WriteNow, MS Word, RTF, troff, Scrip, or TeX documents. In other
words, you could convert WriteNow documents to MacWrite, troff documents to
MS Word, or MS Word documents to TeX!

I need to know a couple of things before I embark upon this project. The most
important is the amount of info available of the various file types. I have
info on MacWrite, Script, troff, and TeX. I assume RTF (rich text format) is
easily available, but what about MS Word and WriteNow formats? Does anybody
have docs on RTF, WriteNow, or MS Word formats? Secondly, has a program like
this been done before? Is there a need for it? And last of all, are there any
other common word processor that I have left off this list, for which I might
be able to get a complete file format specification?

Please e-mail any responses directly to me if possible. I would appreciate any
thought or comments that you have.

Scott Storkel
Macintosh Software Development                      storkel@rice.bitnet
Rice University                                     storkel@rice.edu