[Upd-discuss] Offtopic: Adverse effects of using computers

[Richard Stallman]

    Some evidence I have is the following:
    http://www.uclan.ac.uk/facs/destech/compute/staff/read/Publish/ChiCi/chi
    ldrentech.doc

That file name seems to indicate it is a file in Microsoft Word
format.

Distributing documents in Word format is bad for everyone.  You can't
be sure what they will look like if someone views them with a
different version of Word; they may not work at all.

Receiving Word documents is bad for you because they can carry
viruses (see http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/acro.html).
Sending Word documents is bad for you, because a Word document
normally includes hidden information about the author, enabling those
in the know to pry into the author's activities (maybe yours).  Text
that you think you deleted may still be embarrassingly present.  See
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3154479.stm for more info.

But above all, sending people Word documents puts pressure on them to
use Microsoft software and helps to deny them any other choice.  In
effect, you become a buttress of the Microsoft monopoly.  This
pressure is a major obstacle to the broader adoption of free software.

Can you tell me how to write to the authors of that file, so I can ask
them to release it in a free format?

See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html for more
about this issue.