I quite agree with you. Seems that most people simply miss the point. ODF was not designed to overthrow.doc or whatever other format. It was designed as a well documented open standard format in which documents should be saved, so any application can open them (even after 20 years). Governments are pushing for an ODF, they can't afford to rely on one single software provider who in the past has been changing formats in every new version of their office software, creating incompatibilities with every new release. And don't forget: it is not a choice that an average user is going to make, as soon as large countries (or even the entire EU) decide that all document exchanges have to be in ODF format, companies like Microsoft will be forced to fully support that format, if they like it or not (at the moment only ODF is ISO certified and it seems unlikely that OOXML as it is will get certified).
Grtz
Reminds me of the usual drug dealer tactics. First it is for free (that is, no copy protection), but as soon as someone gets addicted they will have to pay for it.
Produce a new drug called Vista promising a totally new experience and all the addicts run to their local dealer, just to find out they can't afford it, can't get it for free (being protected from themselves by something called WGA) and having to buy 24 carat golden needles to use Vista (Aero. 4GB, +3Ghz CPU etc).
Slashdot Mirror
I quite agree with you. Seems that most people simply miss the point. ODF was not designed to overthrow .doc or whatever other format. It was designed as a well documented open standard format in which documents should be saved, so any application can open them (even after 20 years). Governments are pushing for an ODF, they can't afford to rely on one single software provider who in the past has been changing formats in every new version of their office software, creating incompatibilities with every new release. And don't forget: it is not a choice that an average user is going to make, as soon as large countries (or even the entire EU) decide that all document exchanges have to be in ODF format, companies like Microsoft will be forced to fully support that format, if they like it or not (at the moment only ODF is ISO certified and it seems unlikely that OOXML as it is will get certified).
Grtz
Reminds me of the usual drug dealer tactics. First it is for free (that is, no copy protection), but as soon as someone gets addicted they will have to pay for it. Produce a new drug called Vista promising a totally new experience and all the addicts run to their local dealer, just to find out they can't afford it, can't get it for free (being protected from themselves by something called WGA) and having to buy 24 carat golden needles to use Vista (Aero. 4GB, +3Ghz CPU etc).