PDA

View Full Version : Novell tells OpenOffice to fork off


newbie2
December 5th, 2006, 08:29 PM
NOVELL HAS announced more fruit from its Microsoft collaboration. It is planning to fork off OpenOffice so that it supports Vole's Open XML.

According to Groklaw, the software will still default to the Open Document Format but seems to have subheadings that point to OpenXML.

Groklaw seems to think it is getting clearer what Microsoft has got out of its licensing deal with Novell.

Volish sales people can now tell corporate customers that they do not need to switch to Linux to run the Open Document Format which is being demanded by various US government bodies, Groklaw says.

More here. µ
http://lxer.com/module/forums/t/24200/
:rolleyes:
maniacmusician
December 5th, 2006, 08:50 PM
havnt read the article, but i'm pretty sure OpenXML support is being added to OO. No one would be dumb enough to fork a product (their own product no less) just to support one format.
PriceChild
December 5th, 2006, 08:56 PM
Time will tell.
ComplexNumber
December 5th, 2006, 08:59 PM
maybe someone should tell novell to "fork off and dont come back" :mrgreen: .

hmm maybe that was a bit poor.
prizrak
December 5th, 2006, 09:24 PM
Volish sales people can now tell corporate customers that they do not need to switch to Linux to run the Open Document Format which is being demanded by various US government bodies, Groklaw says.

B.S. OpenXML was not adopted by ISO, ODF was. US (and other governments) are mandating ODF as it is an international completely free standard. There was never any need to switch to Linux, OO runs just fine on Windows and there are already at least 3 different parties working on ODF plug-ins for Office 2007 one of them actually supported by MS.


havnt read the article, but i'm pretty sure OpenXML support is being added to OO. No one would be dumb enough to fork a product (their own product no less) just to support one format.

OO is not a Novell product. Where the hell did that myth ever come from? OO is a free/libre version of Sun's StarOffice.
luca.b
December 5th, 2006, 11:59 PM
Groklaw misinterpreted (purposely?) the press release. Novell has been mantaining a branded OO for a while, lke other distros. The OpenXML part would come as a plugin, and not in the main codebase (and I don't think it would ever be included upstream).

Sad for a site that advertises itself as "Digging for Truth"...
jpkotta
December 6th, 2006, 12:05 AM
I think there are plans to move the plugin to the upstream OOo.


These translators will then be made available as plug-ins to Novell's OpenOffice.org product. Novell will release the code to integrate the Open XML format into its product as open source, and will submit it for inclusion in the OpenOffice.org project. Thus, all OpenOffice.org end users will eventually be able to share files between Microsoft Office and OpenOffice.org, as a result of the documents maintaining more consistent formats, formulas, and style templates across the two office suites.

http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS5248375481.html

I think it's good. One of the main reasons for MS's power is Office, and one of the main reasons for the ubiquity of Office is the fact that a) it is ubiquitous and b) only Office can open Office documents reliably (so it stays ubiquitous). This will mean they can compete on level ground.
luca.b
December 6th, 2006, 12:08 AM
It doesn't mean it'll be accepted in, however.
Terracotta
December 6th, 2006, 01:05 AM
It doesn't mean it'll be accepted in, however.

Why not, Openoffice.org is known for MS Office compatibility so why rewrite this?

I just hope the code is usefull for competing projects as well, unlike their .doc filters.
maniacmusician
December 6th, 2006, 04:43 AM
OO is not a Novell product. Where the hell did that myth ever come from? OO is a free/libre version of Sun's StarOffice.

My bad; It's just what I heard from other people. Most people seem to be very convinced that Novell is sponsoring/funding development of open office, and it is their child program.
dbbolton
December 6th, 2006, 06:38 AM
it seems anything involving novell instantly takes a spotlight here.
KoRnholio
December 6th, 2006, 07:24 AM
OpenOffice.org has already stated this is their goal: http://www.techweb.com/wire/software/193501757
prizrak
December 6th, 2006, 03:11 PM
My bad; It's just what I heard from other people. Most people seem to be very convinced that Novell is sponsoring/funding development of open office, and it is their child program.

They are very likely sponsoring it. Someone also pointed out that there is a Novell fork of it. Hard to keep up with all those Free software variants ;)