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Microsoft's Open XML Project A Short-Term Fix

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the patching-a-sinking-ship dept.

TechPro writes "In an interview with eWeek the managing director of the ODF Alliance (Marino Marcich) was pretty dismissive of Microsoft's Open XML Translator project. While the move was a recognition of the ODF Format's acceptance by government's around the world, the installable software plug-ins that would be created under the project were really 'only a bridge, a stopgap measure that will probably not be acceptable to government's around the world over the long term. Plug-ins simply don't give the benefits of open file formats and standards,' he said."

2 of 94 comments (clear)

  1. Oh Come On Now... by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 1, Flamebait
    ...Plug-ins simply don't give the benefits of open file formats and standards,' he said.

    Oh come on now. You didn't really think Microsoft was going to give ODF equal billing with their own preferred (and proprietary) Doc and Xml did you? And about this only being the start of creating an open source converter plug-in, you don't really accept that the reason we don't have a plug-in now is because Microsoft has done no work at all on integrating ODF into MSO right up until the minute of this announcement, do you? That they haven't had running converters in their labs for years in the event they actually had to ship something on short notice? That we still have to wait many months and pay the MS-tax for MSOffice 2007 to get this because it has never existed at MS before.

    You do?

    Really?

    About this bridge I have for sale...



    I could never take a job at Microsoft, because then I'd have to quit bashing them again and again for either lying to me -- or just plain being stupid in the first place about understanding their market. Even being a monopoly can only get you so far.

    --
    "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
  2. What if... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    What if OpenXML isn't that bad? It has been submitted to ECMA, and I think they've mentioned ISO. So I presume it will really be open and properly documented (with the necessary license changes) if more shit hits the fan. I also seem to recall reading about some rather nifty features of OpenXML, such as embedding audio and video into documents and the ZIP container being constructed so the important files inside come first, and graphics et al last.

    On the other hand, OpenDocument relies on open standards all the way (we all know how important that is), and should be more interoperable...

    Why can't we all just get along and have OpenXMLDocument, The One True Document Format, with the best of OpenDocument and OpenXML? Both sides seem to be pushing their agenda more than being concerned about the well-being of everyone, and it looks like each of them has something the other does not. So for crying out loud, sit down together, create the next super-format and transition to it! It will bring money to everyone involved, and create everlasting peace on Earth.