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Microsoft Promises To Fully Support OOXML ... Later
Raul654 writes "OOXML is the Word document format that Microsoft rammed through the ISO last year. Last week, we discussed a blog post by Alex Brown, who was instrumental in getting OOXML approved by the ISO. Brown criticized Microsoft for reneging on its promise to support OOXML in the upcoming release of Office 2010, and for its lackadaisical approach to fixing the many bugs which still remain in the specification. Now, Doug Mahugh has responded to Brown's post, promising that Microsoft will support OOXML 'no later than the initial release of Office 15.'"
OOXML is the word document format that Microsoft
No it's not. It's the document format for representing all supported document types within the Office suite.
Yeah, OK, we all know what he's talking about. But still... is it really that hard to get the basics right in a summary?
Implement first, standardize later.
I'm still amazed how many times people shoot themselves in the foot by trying to do it backwards.
I will gladly support your standards on Tuesday for the 'standards compliant' checkbox I need to continue my lucrative market dominance today...
And Microsoft promised to support OS/2 after it sold 2 million copies.
Never happened.
"The last thing I want to do is deal with a bunch of people who want something."
Major Major
Wow. I can't believe that MS wasted three years and $millions on this. MS really needs to take a look at what is going on and do something about it:
* MS Tablet PCs fail
* Windows Mobile fails
* MS ISO Standard file format fails
* Windows Live fails
* Zune fails
The bodies are getting stacked deep, there MS. Time to get back to what made you great and become hacker friendly again... and not in the sense that your OS and software have lots of security holes.
Nobody looks forward to using Microsoft products. They use them because they have to. Even if you think that all the hype around Apple products is just advertising brainwashing and the fans are just drooling zombies, here's a thought: Microsoft has even more money to spend on branding and they can't even manage to inspire lukewarm enthusiasm.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
They're responsible for this abortion of a standard and yet even they can't implement the thing. So much for eating your own dog food. They should be *MADE* to use it or the ISO should simply kill the standard since clearly it can't work.
"I have the attention span of a strobe lit goldfish, please get to the point quickly!"
Ok, then. They'll support it on the next version, just what they promissed by 2007.
Rethinking email
The Xbox 360 seems to be the one exception. What's really surprising is that people keep going back to it even after their 360 breaks.
I suppose they have a vested interest due to their game libraries.
GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
Doug Mahugh has responded to Brown's post, promising that Microsoft will support OOXML 'no later than the initial release of Office 15.'
When Microsoft follows through with a promise like this, I can't help but lol. How can one of the most rich and powerful software companies in the world not have the resources to do something like this HERE and NOW?
I smell fish - and it's not coming from Ballmer's underwear, for once.
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
Wow. I can't believe that MS wasted three years and $millions on this. MS really needs to take a look at what is going on and do something about it:
* MS Tablet PCs fail
* Windows Mobile fails
* MS ISO Standard file format fails
* Windows Live fails
* Zune fails
The bodies are getting stacked deep, there MS. Time to get back to what made you great and become hacker friendly again... and not in the sense that your OS and software have lots of security holes.
Nobody looks forward to using Microsoft products. They use them because they have to. Even if you think that all the hype around Apple products is just advertising brainwashing and the fans are just drooling zombies, here's a thought: Microsoft has even more money to spend on branding and they can't even manage to inspire lukewarm enthusiasm.
Sure they do.
Wanting to run away from Microsoft products as fast as possible is certainly enthusiasm.
Nobody but boring technogeeks are going to understand the importance of the distinction between "strict OOXML" and "transitional OOXML." It's all very well for Alex Brown to say transitional OOXML was "not the format 'approved by ISO/IEC', it is the format that was rejected," but it sure doesn't _sound_ that way.
It wouldn't even take much dishonesty for a salesperson to say "supports OOXML," and the top-level managers who make the purchasing decisions will nod and smile. What are the chances they will know the importance of asking the question "is that transitional OOXML or strict OOXML?" And any top-level manager, approached by some intense young technogeek, is going to wonder if it's really all that important, and whether transitional OOXML isn't really good enough.
Within Microsoft, how many high-level managers are going to think it is urgently important for Office to support "strict OOXML" rather than "transitional OOXML?"
The battle was probably lost when they allowed those names to be used. Now nobody can ever mention the matter to any lay outsider without prefixing it with a couple of minutes of exposition.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
Yeah but seriously... it doesn't explain away the CONCEPT that you can invent a standard then just completely not use it. I know it's Microsoft... but still. The CONCEPT is just asinine. No seriously. I don't care what company it is, the whole idea is just lunacy. I know their strategy here: keep everybody aiming for somewhere they're not actually at, to prevent anybody else from being able to properly integrate with Office. I understand that. It's just that on its surface, this whole idea is insanity.
People go back to MS products even after being burned time and time again, because they're locked in... The 360 is no different really.
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