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Microsoft Opening Office XML Formats

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the what-does-that-mean-exactly dept.

sriram_2001 writes "Microsoft has opened up the XML schemas for Office 2003, thereby silencing a lot of criticism. This could potentially open the way for several government contracts as certain governments have made open standards (and not open-source) a pre-requisite. In their FAQ, Microsoft not only says that open source developers can distribute software built using them, but also that they'll make all future updates available using the same terms. Here is the Official Microsoft Site and CRN and Techworld have stories about it."

8 of 356 comments (clear)

  1. Nope, too little, too late. :) by caluml · · Score: 5, Funny

    No, no matter what they do, we'll still hate them, right? :)

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  2. Nooo... by sandstorming · · Score: 4, Funny

    Just when you thought you could escape clippy the office paperclip through open source...

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    1. Re:Nooo... by bwalling · · Score: 2, Funny

      Just when you thought you could escape clippy the office paperclip through open source...

      Shows what you know - we're talking about XML, whereas paperclips are made of metal.

  3. Wait.... by bizpile · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...does this make them Communist sympathizers?

  4. Great by savagedome · · Score: 5, Funny

    open source developers can distribute software built using them, but also that they'll make all future updates available using the same terms

    My area code is 666 and I just looked outside. It's completely frozen too. Yup.

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  5. Ok.... by gral · · Score: 5, Funny

    and how much does the Version that creates these "Open" formats cost? Isn't the version that creates these formats the "Professional" version only. Oh wait, OpenOffice.org does these already. :-)

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    Scott Carr
  6. Re:We won! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    First of all, why is this a loss for Microsoft? Unless of course you are implying introducing OS policies to be a poor business decision.

    Secondly, it's lose, not the reference to your mother.

    Thirdly, spelling Windows with a $ sign at the end is not big, clever nor vaguely amusing.

    And lastly, you are an idiot.

  7. Yeah but... by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 2, Funny

    what about the BINARY formats?
    What's the matter, MS? Chicken? ;-)