From Peter Berrie
Helen MacDonald writes that Word macros are needed in the publishing industry
(Letters, 8 May, p 54).
This is partly right, but as regards the present debate
on viruses, mostly wrong. Yes, some form of automated document editing is very
helpful. No, this does not require macros in the form in which they are found in
MS Word, and which have spawned Melissa and other viruses.
There is a world of difference between allowing automated changes to be made
to open documents within an application, which primarily serves to eliminate
repetitive editing, and allowing a Word document to be a piece of executable
code which can operate on any file and in any way the operating system allows.
You need the first. The second is not only unnecessary, it is, as corporate IT
support departments and end users are finding to their cost, thoroughly
harmful.
What MacDonald and other users should be demanding from her WP supplier is
more editing power, and less programming power. There is no technical reason why
they cannot have it.
London
