Fulfilling the Promise of XML-based Office Suites?

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Fulfilling the Promise of XML-based Office Suites?

Posted by Cliff on Monday September 22, 2003 @12:36PM from the a-golden-opportunity-for-innovation dept.

brentlaminack asks: "Almost a year ago Tim Bray of XML fame said 'when the huge universe of MS Office documents becomes available for processing by any programmer with a Perl script and a bit of intelligence, all sorts of wonderful new things can be invented that you and I can't imagine.' Now that MS has dropped the ball on the XML Office front, and StarOffice has fulfilled its XML promise, where are all those 'wonderful new things?' Is anybody out there writing Perl/Java/whatever programs to take advantage of StarOffice XML? Could this be an opportunity for Free/Open/Libre software to leapfrog MS Office in real productivity as XML proponents have promised all along?" What kinds of new and wonderful things can you come up with?

14 of 432 comments (clear)

anything that will translate manager speak? by hattig · 2003-09-22 12:43 · Score: 5, Funny

Maybe a script to de-buzzword meaningless missives from above?

E.g., "We wish to engender a positive business atmosphere" => "Free beer at lunchtime"
1. Re:anything that will translate manager speak? by cptgrudge · 2003-09-22 13:07 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Maybe a script to de-buzzword meaningless missives from above?
  Not a script, but perhaps a free (as in beer) Word plugin? Bullfighter
  
  --
  Qualitas edurus commercium, nullus penitus net rimor, nullus deus beneficium
2. Re:anything that will translate manager speak? by bigdavex · 2003-09-22 13:57 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  #/usr/bin/perl
  print "We're doing more layoffs and getting more bonuses.";
  
  --
  -Dave
Re:Well... by BlueGecko · 2003-09-22 12:54 · Score: 4, Funny

VBA exists now and it's not like we're all flying around with wings and harps.
True, but after extensive work with VBA, I grew these sharp red horns and a big red tail with a spike on the end...
Is it just me... by cca93014 · 2003-09-22 12:57 · Score: 3, Funny
or is XML good for the following things:
- moderately useful at providing a very basic cross platform information transport.
- very useful when being mentioned by PHBs in meetings with CEO/Investors in an attempt to look knowledgable, bleeding edge and worthy of their job/salary
- exceedingly useful when being mentioned by stock analysts to pump a company
I mean, come on. It's just a standardised file format. That's all it is, OK?
--
Invoicing, Time Tracking, Reporting
OMFG someone with sense by DrSkwid · 2003-09-22 13:02 · Score: 4, Funny

Ron Minnich at lanl described this one also (though we weren't talking about XML)

-----
You want to make your way in the CS field? Simple. Calculate rough time of
amnesia (hell, 10 years is plenty, probably 10 months is plenty), go to
the dusty archives, dig out something fun, and go for it.

It's worked for many people, and it can work for you.
----
if you must

So get ready for all the gee whizzery now the new kids have "found" plain text.

--
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
Re:Well... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-09-22 13:43 · Score: 2, Funny

I have not heard of BSD for a long time ... is it dead or what?
Re:Automatic Generation of Pretty Reports by merlin_jim · 2003-09-22 13:50 · Score: 4, Funny

The only thing more evil than Crystal Reports is crystal meth

Funny you should mention that... I'm at work right now (10:00 PM local time; been here since 9:00 AM) for that very reason! And I'll give you a hint, I've never touched crystal meth

--
I am disrespectful to dirt! Can you see that I am serious?!
Re:Not a big innovation by sharkey · 2003-09-22 14:00 · Score: 4, Funny

Sometimes the right tool, despite all the modern technolgical advances, is still a rock.
When all you have is a rock, everything looks like Bill Gates' head.

--

--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
Re:PHP Script that generated reports by awtbfb · 2003-09-22 14:08 · Score: 2, Funny

It would be nice to not be constantly pestered about TPS Reports. Now where's my red stapler...
"humbly", not "humblely" by Anonymous Coward · 2003-09-22 14:36 · Score: 1, Funny
Re:MS Office is required by An+Onerous+Coward · 2003-09-22 14:54 · Score: 3, Funny

So that's what OpenOffice has been missing all this time. I knew there was something a bit off about it, but I could never put my finger on it.

The answer, my friends, is an integrated E-mail/Calendar suite. Integrated right into OpenOffice. This is what will finally drive a stake through Microsoft's undead heart.

Integrated E-mail. Integrated Calendaring. Right in the office suite. All integrated and everything. You all know you want it. Now go, my toiling minions! Build! Build, I say!

--
You want the truthiness? You can't handle the truthiness!
Re:The two stages we haven't reached yet by Sri+Lumpa · 2003-09-22 21:34 · Score: 2, Funny

"Open, Save, Bold, Italic, Print and Spell check"

"I suppose the funny part was that he forgot "Close" ? :-)"

Nah, it's Word, it's got the automatic shutdown feature (otherwise known as crashing).

--
"The obvious mathematical breakthrough would be development of an easy way to factor large prime numbers." Bill Gates,
Re:Well... by Korgan · 2003-09-22 22:52 · Score: 2, Funny

Ahhh... so you got MSOffice to run on WINE in a BSD environment then? ;-)