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MS Office 12 To Utilize ODF?
J. Random Luser writes "Groklaw is carrying a story about Microsoft quietly engaging a French company to develop Open Document filters for Office 12, due out mid-2006. The SourceForge project claims to be an import filter for MS Office, and that is how the developer describes it. But ZDNet quotes Ray Ozzie as talking about an export filter from MS Office, and this french blog takes Ozzie at his word. Ostensibly the tarball unpacks as OpenOfficePlugin, and SourceForge has the WindowsInstaller.msi listed as 'platform independent'." From the ZDNet article: "Ozzie told me that supporting ODF in Office isn't a matter of principle. Microsoft isn't opposed to supporting other formats. The company just announced support for PDF, and he added that the Open Office XML format has an 'extremely liberal' license."
It's one thing to read/write a document format through a filter.
It's another to utilize the format, i.e., as the underlying default storage format.
You know, it's kind of clever: Support it, but only in the new version.
MS Office also had support for WordPerfect files. If you want to have the leading Office software you must have support for your competition. OpenOffice has support for Word documents so it comes as no suprise that MS would do the same.
Microsoft has no choice. Either they will support the format, in a usable form, or be increasingly left out of government, city/state/country level, contracts.
I am surprised at how quickly ODF is becoming a must have feature. It makes perfect sense of course, but I think so many people have gotten so use to the "Microsoft is always the winner" mentality that they are having a hard time imagining that anyone would mandate an open format for documents.
With companies such as Sun and IBM opening up their software and such, I read magizines that try to support the idea that other companies need to do the same or be left behind. Do you think Microsoft is getting that hint or is there another reason why they would be using open formats? Surely there aren't enough open office users yet for them to be worried about that portion of the market. After all, most users of Open Office use that suite because they hate Microsoft.
SourceForge has the WindowsInstaller.msi listed as 'platform independent'."
Ehm... Since when WindowsInstaller(s) have been 'platform independent'? Do I miss something?
-- Patent no.123456: A way to personalize
No, really, it is. If MS Word can open and save in OpenDocument XML format, then Microsoft can honestly say, "Sure, Mr. Corporate Buyer, go ahead and experiment with that open source stuff. And when you're done, you can rest assured that your data can safely return to Microsoft Word with nary a scratch."
At the very least it is a slight nod to the increasing public awareness of open source software.
$nice = $webHosting + $domainNames + $sslCerts
OASIS (the consortium behind OpenDocument) is doing its best to avoid licensing issues and legal arguments, which unfortunately seems to mean you can write whatever you want and call it OpenDocument, or at least "OpenDocument-based" or some other form of weasel words.
How? It is all well and good to say that but it is an open spec, you either support it or you don't. You cannot break it and still call it ODF.
What you CAN do is try to wrap it in DRM that only Office (I'm sorry, registered and activated Office) can open, but they don't need ODF for that, they can (and do) impliment that now with thier format.
However, doing so would violate Mass. requirements (and the entire point) anyway, and be rejected.
Finkployd
The first "E" in "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish" is "Embrace". We are here.
--
$tar -xvf
Have you tried applying for a job through agencies? .doc format.
When I was recently looking for a job I as a matter of principle tried everything to avoid sending out in
Me: Here have my CV in ODF
Job agency: What the hell format is that? Can I have it in word please
Me: Here have a PDF!
Job Agency: We can't edit that
Me: Good - that's kind of the point of pdf
Job Agency: Nope we need to edit it to remove your personal contact details
Me: Here have a pdf without my personal contact details on it
Job Agency: We need to send it to our client, we need in in rtf or doc
Me: Why?
{long discussion snipped}
Me: So you can alter it to fit your format and change it to be what you want?
{long discussion}
Job Agency: Yes
BTW It wasn't just job agencies, but job websites and most HR departments looked at me like I'd tried to send them it in chinese - which to most people ODF or PDF are. In the end I grudgily settled on rtf where possible or doc if I had to.
"The weirdest thing about a mind, is that every answer that you find, is the basis of a brand new cliche" -
OASIS ODF is very much the Open Office XML format in the same way that swf is the Macromedia Flash format. Both are open standards derived from the featureset of a single product and whose format continues to be dictated by a single product. How many people are using ODF outside of OOo?
Just as VC-1 is still (mostly) Windows Media, OASIS ODF is still OpenOffice.org. Standardizing the format doesn't change what it fundamentally is.
If Microsoft made their Word format completely open and submitted it to a standards body tomorrow, it would still be the Word format.
Don't fool yourself. ODF is designed around OpenOffice.
ODF Myths
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.