Microsoft does have an interest in supporting specs like posix for those really large clients who require it—hence SFU and it's descendants, some of which may be GPLV2. They don't need to upgrade to meet the spec.
The bypass was not to harm linux but to avoid being harmed by Wil E.
The only bad scenario is the shrinking of the GNU audience that GPLV3 forces; and the linux audience as well if the folks behind Apache, samba, glibc, the linux kernel, gnome, kde, and firefox get all religious and forget to look to their best interests.
"The GPL" doesn't exist. It's GPLV2 or GPLV3—two different licenses that happen to have similar names and were both developed by the Wil E. Coyote of the software world.
Microsoft appears to be involved in distributing software that includes code encumbered with GPLV2 and appears to have complied with that license. This in no way binds them to anything in GPLV3 and, in fact, they have said clearly that they will not have anything to do with code licensed with GPLV3.
Wil E. put his trap in the middle of the road and assumed RoadRunner would run straight into it. Predictably, RR took the bypass. OCD messes up your thinking.
Lol. Where (I ask again) do I buy the tinfoil franchise for Slashdot?
To put this in perspective: for all but a tiny fraction of the time there's been a computer industry, the file formats used by major applications have been proprietary and the common formats, where they exist, are "interchange formats" like ascii and comma-delimited. The industry has thrived nonetheless.
The two top word processors are Word and Wordperfect—they read and write each others' formats and provide free stand-alone readers for everyone else. OOo Writer comes into the game and, no surprise, it reads and writes Word formats. Any bets somebody is working on a WordPerfect extension? Users don't need ODF, they need compatibility.
The rhetoric around ODF, however, makes it clear that ODF is first and foremost about "sticking it to Microsoft". Microsoft has to be aware of this and, with reason, looks at ODF not so much as an open standard, but as the format used by OpenOffice—a competitive product line. Their reaction is consistent with what their reaction would be to Corel trying to get WordPerfect's file format approved as the standard.
The ultimate irony is that if ODF is ever established as "the one", Microsoft will still have the best and best-supported general-purpose word processor reading and writing.odt files, and they will probably not need to lower their prices to hold their market share. In the meantime, all of the time and angst wasted going after Microsoft could have been spent building great open-source applications.
Undo data isn't saved—which is why you can't undo after a save.
Properties metadata isn't hidden; it's part of the document (these aren't text files). Both Word and OOo Writer include this. The difference is that Word keeps all the properties in the Properties tab. OOo Writer has a few in the Properties tab but hides the interesting ones under Insert|Fields|Other|userField (using Insert to Set is silly). Word also has (redundantly) an option on the Security tab to always remove personal information before saving.
OOo Writer also has change tracking and viewing separately enabled (see Edit|Change) so it creates the same opportunity for negligent disclosure that Word does. What I haven't found in OOo Writer (not to say it isn't there) is Word's feature that warns you if you are about to save/send/print a document with "extra" information in it.
Regardless of the word processor, the only way to be sure that what you see is what you send, as has been pointed out, is to export to pdf and send pdf files. My contention is that going to pdf is more complex than housekeeping with Word, it masks features the user should be aware of, and it removes useful features, functions and benefits you get by distributing document files.
Sometimes a pdf is useful, but for preserving integrity, not confidentiality. I send pdfs when I want to preserve that particular state of the document as final or a particular milestone. Sending a pdf says "For your information; no feedback required or expected." Pdf is a great archive format.
it is perhaps more sensible to do say a print to PDF instead of making a fully editable document available
Perhaps not fully-editable. With Word I can lock up everything except the insert|comment feature, so I can get back commented versions of the document, merge comments from multiple contributors, and then go to work on the next revision. You can't do this with Acrobat Reader or OpenOffice. OO.o goes one better: it doesn't allow comments and deletes comments while importing.doc files.
On the other hand, if you don't want feedback, or want to make it difficult, then a pdf is ideal.
On the other hand, this means making sure that everyone has the pdf printer driver and a pdf reader and know how to use them. This might be simpler than making sure everyone knows how to clear markup.
The thing is that out of the box, Word comes with tracking turned off and markup viewing turned on. The user has to do two non-obvious things right to reverse this and thus create the negligent disclosure problem. Someone with "a limited knowledge of the software" is unlikely to figure out how to do it.
It's a shame that the save/print/send warning isn't on by default.
We shouldn't lose track of the fact that change tracking is an important feature where collaboration is part of document creation and that it's widely used by pretty much the same organizations that are sensitive about what gets sent out in the end. A few anecdotes don't change the likelihood that the people who use these features know how they work and how to turn them off.
Wow! Someone who actually read the article! Not just that—gave it some thought!
I wish I had mod points to give.
As to compelling reasons to switch, Sun and IBM are going to have to back off and allow organizations to make the switch to (lets call it) ODF++ without having to ditch MS Office to do it. When most or all of your data is in an interoperable open format, then it's possible to do an orderly migration to alternate applications, should that seem effective.
Bottom line, I agree with the author that ODF needs to be beefed up to be a superset rather than a subset of MOOXML. Also, the OpenOffice gang have to put in place a solution that deals with the huge amount of legacy material in previous MS binary formats and legal requirements for accurate representation.
You want a killer app? —A program that batch processes MS office files back to Word 2.0 and reproduces them perfectly (to legal evidence standards) in pdf. To go one better, format them in ODF so that, with a predefined style collection, they will display and print as the original (to legal evidence standards).
In an enterprise environment, this is a non-problem. The standard image will have fast save disabled, markup viewing turned on, and the print/save/send warning turned on, and these settings will be reestablished every time a user logs on. This eliminates accidental disclosures but not negligent disclosures; there is no defense against the idiot who modifies these settings or ignores the warning.
You mean being of the first generation to grow up without TymeShare, BBSs and Usenet. One of the neat things about being really young is the illusion that your generation invented everything. (Although this doesn't explain Al Gore)
First, anyone who hasn't taken a good hard look at CodePlex has no relevant opinion.
Then, as much as this community would like to be Microsoft's problem, it doesn't come close to noise level. When Microsoft releases code, it's giving it away to IBM, Sun and HP. That's what worries them.
Who the f*** decided that sentences on the Internet shall no longer be formatted with two spaces after a period?!
No one decided. We all noticed that we were not using manual typewriters and that we had real fonts. This allowed us to advance to standard typography. Enjoy.
As an aside, there's a good book that anyone who produces a lot of printed material should have: The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst.
There's a fundamental difference. The 'multifunctions' on the Palm are just different software on a common platform with a common purpose--managing information about people, places and times. It's as multifunctional as the choice between aperture priority and shutter priority on a camera. Cameras and cellphones involve different hardware technologies where 'best of breed' performance is delivered on dedicated devices.
If any of these devices were the least bit bulky, sacrificing quality for convenience (sounds like our school systems) might be attractive, but they aren't and it isn't.
Slashdot Mirror
You have to follow the rules of the GPL
"The GPL" doesn't exist. It's GPLV2 or GPLV3—two different licenses that happen to have similar names and were both developed by the Wil E. Coyote of the software world.
Microsoft appears to be involved in distributing software that includes code encumbered with GPLV2 and appears to have complied with that license. This in no way binds them to anything in GPLV3 and, in fact, they have said clearly that they will not have anything to do with code licensed with GPLV3.
Wil E. put his trap in the middle of the road and assumed RoadRunner would run straight into it. Predictably, RR took the bypass. OCD messes up your thinking.
Lol. Where (I ask again) do I buy the tinfoil franchise for Slashdot?
To put this in perspective: for all but a tiny fraction of the time there's been a computer industry, the file formats used by major applications have been proprietary and the common formats, where they exist, are "interchange formats" like ascii and comma-delimited. The industry has thrived nonetheless.
The two top word processors are Word and Wordperfect—they read and write each others' formats and provide free stand-alone readers for everyone else. OOo Writer comes into the game and, no surprise, it reads and writes Word formats. Any bets somebody is working on a WordPerfect extension? Users don't need ODF, they need compatibility.
The rhetoric around ODF, however, makes it clear that ODF is first and foremost about "sticking it to Microsoft". Microsoft has to be aware of this and, with reason, looks at ODF not so much as an open standard, but as the format used by OpenOffice—a competitive product line. Their reaction is consistent with what their reaction would be to Corel trying to get WordPerfect's file format approved as the standard.
The ultimate irony is that if ODF is ever established as "the one", Microsoft will still have the best and best-supported general-purpose word processor reading and writing .odt files, and they will probably not need to lower their prices to hold their market share. In the meantime, all of the time and angst wasted going after Microsoft could have been spent building great open-source applications.
Actually, you just listed the whole lot.
Undo data isn't saved—which is why you can't undo after a save.
Properties metadata isn't hidden; it's part of the document (these aren't text files). Both Word and OOo Writer include this. The difference is that Word keeps all the properties in the Properties tab. OOo Writer has a few in the Properties tab but hides the interesting ones under Insert|Fields|Other|userField (using Insert to Set is silly). Word also has (redundantly) an option on the Security tab to always remove personal information before saving.
OOo Writer also has change tracking and viewing separately enabled (see Edit|Change) so it creates the same opportunity for negligent disclosure that Word does. What I haven't found in OOo Writer (not to say it isn't there) is Word's feature that warns you if you are about to save/send/print a document with "extra" information in it.
Regardless of the word processor, the only way to be sure that what you see is what you send, as has been pointed out, is to export to pdf and send pdf files. My contention is that going to pdf is more complex than housekeeping with Word, it masks features the user should be aware of, and it removes useful features, functions and benefits you get by distributing document files.
Sometimes a pdf is useful, but for preserving integrity, not confidentiality. I send pdfs when I want to preserve that particular state of the document as final or a particular milestone. Sending a pdf says "For your information; no feedback required or expected." Pdf is a great archive format.
it is perhaps more sensible to do say a print to PDF instead of making a fully editable document available
Perhaps not fully-editable. With Word I can lock up everything except the insert|comment feature, so I can get back commented versions of the document, merge comments from multiple contributors, and then go to work on the next revision. You can't do this with Acrobat Reader or OpenOffice. OO.o goes one better: it doesn't allow comments and deletes comments while importing .doc files.
On the other hand, if you don't want feedback, or want to make it difficult, then a pdf is ideal.
On the other hand, this means making sure that everyone has the pdf printer driver and a pdf reader and know how to use them. This might be simpler than making sure everyone knows how to clear markup.
All very clever. Now, do you think someone who can't figure out how to turn off change tracking in Word would have been able to pull it off?
The thing is that out of the box, Word comes with tracking turned off and markup viewing turned on. The user has to do two non-obvious things right to reverse this and thus create the negligent disclosure problem. Someone with "a limited knowledge of the software" is unlikely to figure out how to do it.
It's a shame that the save/print/send warning isn't on by default.
We shouldn't lose track of the fact that change tracking is an important feature where collaboration is part of document creation and that it's widely used by pretty much the same organizations that are sensitive about what gets sent out in the end. A few anecdotes don't change the likelihood that the people who use these features know how they work and how to turn them off.
Good question. Another question: what's the likelihood of such an organization switching to Open Office without destroying a lot of data?
Wow! Someone who actually read the article! Not just that—gave it some thought!
I wish I had mod points to give.
As to compelling reasons to switch, Sun and IBM are going to have to back off and allow organizations to make the switch to (lets call it) ODF++ without having to ditch MS Office to do it. When most or all of your data is in an interoperable open format, then it's possible to do an orderly migration to alternate applications, should that seem effective.
Bottom line, I agree with the author that ODF needs to be beefed up to be a superset rather than a subset of MOOXML. Also, the OpenOffice gang have to put in place a solution that deals with the huge amount of legacy material in previous MS binary formats and legal requirements for accurate representation.
You want a killer app? —A program that batch processes MS office files back to Word 2.0 and reproduces them perfectly (to legal evidence standards) in pdf. To go one better, format them in ODF so that, with a predefined style collection, they will display and print as the original (to legal evidence standards).
In an enterprise environment, this is a non-problem. The standard image will have fast save disabled, markup viewing turned on, and the print/save/send warning turned on, and these settings will be reestablished every time a user logs on. This eliminates accidental disclosures but not negligent disclosures; there is no defense against the idiot who modifies these settings or ignores the warning.
You mean being of the first generation to grow up without TymeShare, BBSs and Usenet. One of the neat things about being really young is the illusion that your generation invented everything. (Although this doesn't explain Al Gore)
Huh? A small problem with reading comprehension, have we? How is any of this relevant to what I wrote?
Let me add two observations:
First, anyone who hasn't taken a good hard look at CodePlex has no relevant opinion.
Then, as much as this community would like to be Microsoft's problem, it doesn't come close to noise level. When Microsoft releases code, it's giving it away to IBM, Sun and HP. That's what worries them.
Don't feel too bad. I paid FICA for three years working in Toronto for the local branch of a Santa Monica company.
Who the f*** decided that sentences on the Internet shall no longer be formatted with two spaces after a period?!
No one decided. We all noticed that we were not using manual typewriters and that we had real fonts. This allowed us to advance to standard typography. Enjoy.
As an aside, there's a good book that anyone who produces a lot of printed material should have: The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst.
These things have been around for ages. See http://www.surefire.com/
Hello? A little reading comprehension problem here?
Microsoft revenue in the last fiscal year: $15 Billion.
Vista licensing revenue in its first fiscal year: $2 Billion.
Linux-derived software licensing revenue throughout all of time: Hmmm.
Does anyone actually think that linux running on PDAs and TV remotes is at all relevant?
What is relevant is that MS is doing a whole lot of things right. And MS shareholders are getting rich and powerful and get the most desirable women.
Color me paranoid, but I don't want a GPS unit that can "call home".
They can't go back to non-GM crops. The Monsanto contract is like GPLV3.
How do you know it's run out of Sweden?
There's a fundamental difference. The 'multifunctions' on the Palm are just different software on a common platform with a common purpose--managing information about people, places and times. It's as multifunctional as the choice between aperture priority and shutter priority on a camera. Cameras and cellphones involve different hardware technologies where 'best of breed' performance is delivered on dedicated devices.
If any of these devices were the least bit bulky, sacrificing quality for convenience (sounds like our school systems) might be attractive, but they aren't and it isn't.
Damn, I'd love to have the tinfoil franchise for Slashdot.
Userspace drivers are not really a new groundbreaking idea now are they
I can make a case for deja-vu 1968: SDS Sigma 7 BPM.
Yah, I do. It's a Palm PDA and the game is Sudoku.
having been taught phonetically
Ah. One of the victims of the great liberal experiment with education (I tend to think of it as legalized child abuse).
I have to apologize on behalf of my generation. I'm not one of those responsible, but I should have seen it happening and done something to stop it.