Q: Which AppStore app will allow import & reading of .docx and .doc files created on a PC?

Dear Mr. Slavin,

Although the issue is now moot, I was brought up to extend courtesy to all, which demands that I acknowledge your (unexpected) last post. In that spirit, if I did not pose my original question in a way you expected, I am sorry to have aroused your displeasure. All I thought I was asking for were suggestions of iPad apps that would allow me to  get a PC-originated Word document onto the iPad so that I could read it, and to do so without using any internet-based method to effect the transfer. I am sorry to have offended your sense of proper terminology by using the word "transfer" which is what I am used to calling the exchange of documents between devices. I should have explained my voluntary ignorance of all things mac and IOS, which might have eased your irritation regarding my clumsy terminology (apple-wise). I admit -- without embarrassment -- that I did not know that Word is identical on a mac and a PC, (apple seems to tout all the time how all they have is different and "better and holier than thou") and because I have not even seen a mac, much less used one, my error may be understood and possibly forgiven by some. Back before apple abandoned those of us who started out at the dawn of personal computing and were writing our own software with DOS and CP/M I was quite familiar with apple as it then was -- but not since then. Despite my apple-ignorance, it might amuse you to know that I was there when Professor Kemeny invented time-sharing at Dartmouth and I was writing and using scientific programs (using a teletype machine as the interface to the college mainframe), was there for the invention of the BASIC language that was soon adopted by apple and later worked with Algol, Fortran, Forth and even Pascal. All of which is just a curiosity now, and I am nothing more than an end-user of computers, of the products of current programmers, and unabashedly ignorant of apple computing because I am neither doing CAD nor graphic design, and the alleged "coolness" and pretended cachet of apple leave me unmoved. (Isn't it hilarious that in the TV comedy series "Big Bang Theory" the characters profess apple-sophistication but use Alienware PCs?) However, to give proper due, apple did pioneer tablets and thus I acquired my first apple product since my last 2GS.

Finally, it was my apparent mistake to assume that computing forums exist to assist and be charitable to users who are less expert than you are. If I were as expert as those who post answers, I would not need to ask any questions in the first place. But I am heartened by the fact that I did have posters reply to my question and to tolerate my ignorance and assist me with my question -- even if I did not live up to your expectations in asking the original question.

With malice to none, with charity for all, I am properly cognizant of the impulse to help the less-informed as demonstrated by the eventual resolution of my question. Even some of the suggestions you interposed among your critiques were nuggets to be gathered. And in that spirit I wish you and yours an enjoyable Valentine's Day, and hope that you will forget the heartburn I caused you -- unintentionally.

Very truly yours,

APS Csontos

PS. Should you have a medical question I would do my best to assist you, whether at the office or on a medical discussion forum even if you did not get the technical terminology right. I would not last long in practice if I declined to consult for patients who mispronounced Tsutsugamushi fever.

Dear RCCharles,

As the "Good Samaritan" who solved my "fruity" problem, I am certainly not going to contradict you in your declarations.Tipping my hat.

I must confess that when I asked my original question, I had no idea that I was going to stir up something of a hornet's nest. Forum participation is not one of my frequent activities, and I was caught unprepared for some of the wind and thin skin that I encountered from some other responders. This will teach me to be even less willing to jump into such a shark pool. The brouhaha reminds me of what I hear from people who spend their time on social media or perhaps the sort of irascibility one might imagine in bars. I have no experience of either of those situations. I hope you will not take umbrage at what follows and realize that I am an incorrigible quipper and humor-monger.

I have no idea what the meaning of "currates" is, but no doubt it is a good thing.

I have to wonder why it is, in your view, that Target and other victims of hacking use something other than apple equipment? Is is just Microsoft mesemerization, or stupidity on their part? Or lack of sandboxes?

Inasmuch as it is not an apple issue, I am aware of the firewall of my router, but even so, I harbor the belief (or delusion, if you will) that broadcasting by WiFi is less secure than a wire. In some places I see pages-long lists of other WiFi sources close enough to register, and while they are all encrypted as is my own, still... (Since you warned me, I had better take a shotgun and check for wire-emission snoops in my palmettos. A load of rock-salt in their glutei will show them!) Luckily, my home router is well away from any exterior walls of my house. But perhaps I had better check the crawlspace under the roof!

As I am sure you know from experience, changing preferences in operating systems and even brands of electronic equipment is probably more difficult than changing sexual orientation, and threrfore it is advisable to stay out of that particular maelstrom. It was traumatic for me to change from apple to the PC so long ago. The fact that apple dumped me way back when, like a long-used but suddenly unwanted shoe means that I am still nursing a resentment that four decades have not undone, even though I have kept all the apple II and apple 2GS hardware as trophies from the halcyon days. So that subject is best left to lie like a sleeping dog.

I have of course heard the long-standing claim that apple systems are more secure, and even recall that one of the early arguments was (and perhaps still is) that apple computers are so relatively few in number in the electronic universe that hackers and malware authors find it much more "rewarding" to go after the more numerous PCs, especially since Microsoft does not have an enviable record of writing sound software. Unless I am again mistaken, actual apple computers are still a minority (price, attitude, etc being cited) and apple makes its megabucks on their telephones (will Android threaten that?) iPods and until now iPads rather than macs. A consumer must be truly convinced (indoctrinated?) that it makes sense to pay a lot more for an apple product because the alleged advantages trump the extortion. Mr. Jobs was certainly an excellent extortionist as well as a product-thief-improver, and I expect his legacy will continue unless there is a major reversal in apple fortunes. If so, it will probably not occur in time to make any difference to me personally. Like Miss Brody, I am definitely past my prime. You may argue with my belief that many (to me) desirable software titles are not ported to IOS, and I expect you would consider apple's emulation of the PC even better than the original. I mention it, but will not insist.

All this means that I practice paranoia, and am using every resource I am aware of to guard my perimeter. So far it has worked -- which does not mean that I won't get stung tomorrow. It also means that I assume the worst from any piece of electronics, apple included. Furthermore, I have invested plenty in my high-end hardware, even at non-extortion prices, and I have learned to deal comfortably with the hardware and software I have been using for four decades. Imagine: I am the resource my personal milieu turns to to assist with PC issues. You may choose whether to think I can function in my own element, or alternately assume that my circle of friends is a bunch of fools. I am too old a dog to learn new tricks (as you saw regarding what must have seemed an elementary problem to you). Soon enough for me even document security will be a non-issue. Then I can shred all those files, reformat my hard drives and comfortably slip into my second childhood and play games which I don't care to keep private.

I have enjoyed my conversations with you, and you bring credit to the products you advocate.

Ave, atque vale!

APS Csontos

Dear RCCharles,

Like the Coast Guard, you are Semper Paratus. My own typing is even more likely to slip an extra letter into a word. I didn't deduce what "currate"  was meant to be. Now I know.

APS Csontos