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matthew
November 22nd, 2005, 01:36 AM
From Slashdot: http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/21/2052252

Microsoft to Open up Office Formats

Posted on Monday November 21, @04:02PM
from the learning-from-your-mistakes dept.

Microsoft is expected to announce on Tuesday the opening of their Office file formats, according to Financial Times. From the article: "Microsoft will submit its Office file formats to Ecma International, the standards body, which will develop the documentation and make it available to the industry. The move is being supported by a number of organizations including Apple Computer, Barclays Capital, BP, Intel and Toshiba."

blastus
November 22nd, 2005, 02:13 AM
This is the same approach Microsoft took with C#. All the ECMA International does is slap a stamp of approval on something and call it a "standard." It says nothing patents and about who controls the "standard." One of the criteria of an open standard is that it is controlled by a standards body.

Brunellus
November 22nd, 2005, 04:12 AM
so if they document the format, does that mean we can look forward to better interoperability with OOo?

BWF89
November 22nd, 2005, 04:16 AM
so if they document the format, does that mean we can look forward to better interoperability with OOo?
OOo might work with MS Office better, but MSO still won't read and write to OpenDocument. Thus forcing us to write our documents with the proprietary MS format if were sending it to one of our buddies that uses MS Office.

23meg
November 22nd, 2005, 04:44 AM
I think MS stated some time ago that they'd implement Open Document support if there's enough demand. Interoperability is a two way street and will only become real if they implement ODT support as well. But if I'm not missing something critical OOo's parsing of MS Office formats should see an improvement after this.

matthew
November 22nd, 2005, 05:09 AM
I think MS stated some time ago that they'd implement Open Document support if there's enough demand. Interoperability is a two way street and will only become real if they implement ODT support as well. But if I'm not missing something critical OOo's parsing of MS Office formats should see an improvement after this.
That would be nice. On the other hand, OOo already opens more versions of Windows doc files than Word 2003! (Like the really old ones.) What I would really like to see is the ability to have macros translate from MS apps to OOo.

poptones
November 22nd, 2005, 08:30 AM
Uhhh.. isn't the point of opendoc and the newer ms doc formats that they are xml based? What's to stop office users from just downloading opendoc xml templates like they download any other office template?

asimon
November 22nd, 2005, 10:28 AM
so if they document the format, does that mean we can look forward to better interoperability with OOo?
Not if they have something like "Microsoft may have patents and/or patent applications that are necessary for you to license in order to make, sell, or distribute software programs that read or write files that comply with the Microsoft specifications for the Office Schemas." in their license text. Microsoft has a very liberal definition of "open" and has excluded "evil viral software" from their docs before.

jc87
November 22nd, 2005, 02:38 PM
Think in open formats , as not so open patents , compatibility issues , and others problems , not as in free to change , modify , redistribute.

matthew
November 22nd, 2005, 05:18 PM
Uhhh.. isn't the point of opendoc and the newer ms doc formats that they are xml based? What's to stop office users from just downloading opendoc xml templates like they download any other office template?Not templates--I already do that. Macros are programmed sequences of actions that can shorten the amount of time it takes to do your ultimate task like formatting and other useful stuff. This would be a lot harder to translate from one program to another so I really don't see it as being likely.

`GooZ´
November 22nd, 2005, 07:43 PM
I hope this will mean better compatibility between OOo and ms office. I REALLY hope so. But I'm afraid there will be a catch...

newbie2
November 22nd, 2005, 08:07 PM
I hope this will mean better compatibility between OOo and ms office. I REALLY hope so. But I'm afraid there will be a catch...
hey gooz ....zie hier eens -->

"For Hervé Feuillien, who is the head of the CIRB, OpenOffice offers better interoperability than Microsoft Office, which was previously the main application within the administration of the Brussels Region."
http://europa.eu.int/idabc/en/document/4106/470

newbie2
November 22nd, 2005, 08:33 PM
"Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire: Microsoft and Open Standards"

"Opinion: How many times does Microsoft have to lie about being open before people get it? "

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1892080,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03129TX1K0000616
http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/48269/index.html
:rolleyes: