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Microsoft Just Says No to .Doc Replacement Panel

Posted by timothy on from the they-could-take-another-fork-in-the-road dept.

Schlemphfer writes "OASIS is a nonprofit consortium backed by top technology companies, and the purpose of this organization is to set open standards for desktop and business software. They've just announced a working group that will create an XML-based document format standard for openoffice.org. And even though Microsoft is a member of Oasis, they aren't going to be taking part in this group. It's a logical move on Bill's part, considering that standardized XML docs are sure to weaken the hold that Microsoft's proprietary .doc format has on business software."

6 of 483 comments (clear)

  1. Besides by suman28 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I was under the impression that Microsoft Office 11 was promoting their own??? version of XML. If that is the case, I am sure that BillG wouldn't want anything else as a standard

  2. But what about... by arloguthrie · · Score: 5, Interesting
    ...the whole .NET thing? I thought the whole purpose of it was to put file formats into XML so that document data, defined by its metadata, could then be used all over the place no matter what application wants it? According to this C|Net article:
    The company is adopting Extensible Markup Language (XML) as a second file format in all Office applications, to enable better data exchange between the productivity suite and back-end software, such as databases. This "opening up" of Office could end Microsoft's lock on document file formats that have boosted Office sales in years past and made the software the de facto standard for desktop productivity.
    So if this is Microsoft's plan, then why wouldn't they want to be on this panel and strongarm them into using their particular metadata to describe documents? Please forgive me if I'm being naive. I'm truly curious.
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    Cheese it! It's the FEDS!
    1. Re:But what about... by bay43270 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The paragraph you quote is over simplifying what MS is doing. Word will read ANY xml format and it's schema. The user then can alter the text (with xml validation showing up as text highlighting). When you save, you have the option of a plain XML format (just the xml that conforms to the schema) or a Word version of the xml (sorry I don't know the MS terms). The Word version of the document contains the original XML format as well as MS proprietary XML. All the MS tags are in their own namespace, so the XML is still valid.

      It's really a very cool idea. Your Word templates can reference Schema elements; so non programmers can create the template. Anyone who knows how to use Word will be able to make a form that interfaces with existing XML formats.

  3. Foot in mouth by ToasterTester · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Tell your writers to check what MS is doing before putting their foot in their mouth and auto-bashing MS. MS has been talking about Office 11 for weeks now with their new XML based file format. Also they said on this issue they are taking a wait and see approach. Now I fully believe MS will tweak their XML so it's not fully compatible with others, but I'm going wait and see so I can legitimately complain.

  4. What I don't understand... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This week we learned that Windows and Office are the heart of Microsoft's monopoly, financially speaking.

    Office, one of MS's two profitable divisions, gives Microsoft a 79% profit margin for each product sold. I have a feeling that if your average Joe only KNEW about openoffice.org as an alternative, they'd use it in a heartbeat. Businesses might be harder to convince, but when I told my dad about OO.o, he just about shat himself. $400 saved.

    If the Internet community can raise $100K (in what was it, 5 weeks?!) to free Blender, surely if given enough time we could raise a million for say, a Superbowl or Oscar ad in 2004. I'm sure there's more than one corporate competitor of Microsoft's that wouldn't mind kicking Bill in the financial balls by making a modest contribution to the OO.o publicity effort.

    I can see the ad now...

    "Coming up next, the Oscar for Best Picture..."

    CUT TO BLACK.

    FADE UP:

    MEDIUM SHOT OF a SILVER CD-ROM on a DESK with "openoffice.org" scrawled in BLACK SHARPIE.

    AS WE SLOWLY ZOOM IN TO THE CD-ROM...

    ANNOUNCER: Hey, America. Four hundred bucks is too much to pay for Office software, don't you think? But now there's an alternative you can download for free and copy for your friends. It's called OpenOffice.org. The people who make the "monopoly" version of Office don't want you to know about it. But we do. So visit www.Openoffice.org and give it a try. This message was paid for by thousands of Internet users around the world who thought you should know about alternatives to supporting the monopoly.

    TEXT: "OpenOffice.org -- A free alternative"

    FADE TO BLACK.

    I'd put ten bucks in for this ad. Just the articles ABOUT the ad and how it was financed would be great publicity.

    (Oh, and I hereby release all the text above under the open content license, v1.0.)

  5. Wrong strategy by El · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It would be much smarter of Microsoft to participate; then they can obfuscate and delay the new standard. Their refusal to participate makes me suspect that perhaps they beleive they have some patents that might apply, and don't want to get accused of acting like Rambus when they spring the patents on the committee to try to shut down the new standard.

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    "Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney