Tim Bray on Implications of OpenDocument Format

Jure Cuhalev writes "In todays keynote, at the OpenOffice.org conference, Tim Bray focused on what OpenDocument format means for office suits. He compared the impact that OpenDocument will have on regular documents to kick-off of the web with selection of HTML as file format. You can watch the video or listen to audio track. Also check out the media page for more conference coverage."

Comments

Suits?

[StrawberryFrog]

what OpenDocument format means for office suits

What has a document format got to do with the company dress code? Or was that a veiled insult to the management?

Re:Suits?

[morgajel]

"Microsoft products can't read file formats they refuse to implement" is what you meant, I think.

it sounds like microsoft is the one screwing you, not OSS.

their reasons are obvious, they don't want to compete, and refuse to participate in anything that would make them do so. they're pulling the equiv. of covering their ears and closing their eyes and screaming "na na na na na I don't hear you you don't exist."

it pisses me off that people take the viewpoint that this is OSS's fault that MS refuses to support their customers.

umm

[eebra82]

What the hell? I cannot view this in Windows Media Player? WHAT'S HAPPENING? WHAT'S THIS OGG? IS IT A VIRUS?

Audio only. Whoopee, tech! Pity I'm deaf.

[Anonymous Coward]

I can't hear audio, and online video is never high enough quality to lip-read from. And I'm not going to waste half an hour trying to connect and download the video when I can be 99% sure they won't have bothered to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and provide subtitles.

So, like, any chance of a transcript?

Re:Audio only. Whoopee, tech! Pity I'm deaf.

[poopdeville]

Don't feel bad just because you're over there. Europeans are Americans too, ya know.

Alternative

[AnonymousYellowBelly]

You can watch the video or listen to audio track. Also check out the media page for more conference coverage or I could just NOT RTFA and spurt opinions. I prefer the true ./ way.

Microsoft techie appearing on the OOo con

[John Zero]

This (friday) morning we just had an encounter with a Microsoft techie, in the Q&A session of the keynote conference about migration to OpenOffice.

Of course, he just kept repeating the standard Microsoft ideas, saying the speaker (!!) seems Anti-American, anti-corporate, saying that the Microsoft DOC format (the new one) IS open for everyone, citing some EU decision on that. This Microsoft guy has also agressively offered to "help the speaker get the facts right" for his slides for next time.

Then, in the corridor, talking with him lead of course nowhere, but what else did you expect? He only could repeat the standart MS panel replies to every question raised...

Re:Microsoft techie appearing on the OOo con

[coofercat]

...standard Microsoft ideas, saying the speaker (!!) seems Anti-American, anti-corporate,

...IS open for everyone, citing some EU decision on that.

Anyone spot the irony there? I know Americans aren't blessed with irony-spotting skills, but the EU being used to bolster an argument about anti-Americanism really takes the biscuit.

I say, "Roll on Gallileo!" ;-)

Re:Propaganda

[SpooForBrains]

Agreed, but don't you think we ought to try and break that trend? It wasn't always this way, it doesn't have to stay this way. This way is stupid. Word Documents are binary, about ten times larger than they need to be, proprietary, and they don't hold formatting information properly.

So, instead of bitching about how OpenDocument isn't going to amount to anything, and doing your part to create a self-fulfilling prophecy, why not join the rest of us that are trying to make sure it does, and tell your colleagues, and the people you share documents with, about its benefits?

lacking agility

[Alien Being]

MS is like the Titanic. They are unsinkable I tell you, unsinkable. They need not correct course or reduce speed to avoid obstacles. Their sheer weight will carry them through.

Full steam ahead!

Microsoft can support OpenDocument easily

[Been on TV]

All this oposition from Microsoft is only play for the gallery. Fact is that it would be dead easy for them to wite a filter or plug-in to MS Office that could read or write files in the OpenDocument formats.

Such a move would of course also invalidate many of the claims and concerns about replacing software, including the ones voiced from a disabilites point of view.

Of course there will be massive costs in converting documents from older Win-Word formats to OpenDocument, but Microsoft is planning on slapping this cost on businesses and states anyway since they will be changing the default fileformats in Office 12 to MS XML. ... Which of course all current software out there is equally incompatible with as the OpenDocument format.

The Cycle of the Standard!

[EddyPearson]

The Cycle of the Standards
while (OSS != £) {
they start out great -> developers stick to them -> designers stick to them -> the public are happy, things are working -> our big fluffy friend Microsoft comes along and decides that everybody else has got it wrong to date, and its up to them, the unappreciated e-heros of redmond to step in and relese some inferior software -> read through all the GPL code -> claim they're sticking to the standard right up until release -> do no such thing -> within two weeks release security updates for IE6/7 and XP/Vista making the original standard impossible to use -> people buy microsoft products -> microsoft corner the market share for that particular product -> service industry depression, too much money going toward software licensing -> gov depts lose money, again licensing -> voters begin to feel the sting of less publically invested money -> lose faith in gov -> bush goes to war -> OSS community send out the message "there is another way" -> decides to write up a standard so them compatability is assured
}