Sigh. We have this discussion from time to time...
Simply put, blame the EU. We have to pay Value Added Tax (VAT) for sales to European customers and we don't have to do this for non-European customers.
Our US$ prices and our Euro prices are identical in numbers. This currently means a value difference of about 20%. This is close to the amount that we have to pay in VAT -- 16% now, going to 18% shortly.
If you can present a European VAT number, we can ship without VAT to you, but you have to pay your government's import VAT instead.
The European VAT tax system is convoluted, but the intent is not much different from the U.S. where you have to pay either sales tax or use tax.
Always nice to be blasted by someone who doesn't have a clue how much work it is to support a file format with a 700 page spec sheet that references another 1000 pages of SVG specifications and assorted documentation.
Yes, the filter is an import filter right now, and, yes, we will add an export filter as well. Have you written a filter today?
The upcoming release of TextMaker 2005 -- currently in public beta supports OpenDocument, too. And nobody ever accused us of using any OpenOffice.org or StarOffice code...:-)
That's why I transferred all my domain registrations to Schlund Technologies. Nothing special about them, except that they are in Germany (where I am, too) and if required, I can get within a day a preliminary injunction against them if they tried to give me the run-around.
We are a 15-people company, already supporting Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, Pocket PC, Handheld PC, Windows CE.NET, Sharp Zaurus and soon Palm OS. We'll soon have Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and Chinese versions. Also, we'll add a database and a presentation-graphics program this year.
I'd love to add a Mac OS port, but right now we are already spreading us pretty thin...;-)
When everything is complete, we intend to make OpenDocument one of the default formats. Right now, we are still grappling with some issues in SVG import, so we still have some work to do.
The problem was with OOo file format documentation. It's huge but neither complete nor correct. The Oasis documentation was much better. We were backporting information from the Oasis docs to our OpenOffice filters.
Yes, when we finally complete our educational web site. Have a look at the German educational site to see what pricing you can expect - site licenses at 12 Euros...
That's your choice obviously. We are pointing out flaws that we perceive as important in OpenOffice. We try to compete on merits, MS Office is shoved down people's throats...
Many people are telling me that OpenOffice could be faster and less demanding on memory, and these are areas where our own products shine. Have you never wanted OpenOffice to start a little quicker?
My personal feeling is that even open source products are not beyond the realm of criticism in areas where they fall down. Mind you, I am seeing that our little PlanMaker/OpenOffice comparison page is causing the OOo developers to improve their product. So, even if you never use TextMaker or PlanMaker, you profit from our little row.
Apart from that, I am still convinced that open document formats are the way to go if we all (united and apart) want to break Microsoft's monopoly.
I'm all for open file formats. That's why our own TextMaker 2005 will support OpenDocument (née Oasis) and OOo file formats.
Not that developing a filter was much less daunting than developing our Microsoft Word filter...;-)
TextMaker (especially the upcoming 2005 release) and PlanMaker are indeed highly Microsoft Office compatible but there is so much legacy crud in the.DOC file format that we still receive documents from customers and start think "What the..., how was this created?"
The Deja interface was really nice, and search results were better, too.
I am not sure if this recollection is based on the superiority of the UI design at Deja compared to groups.google, less noise in the search results, or a general tendency of people to make the past better than it really was...;-)
From a technical standpoint, a distributed system is not necessary. Usenet (without binaries) is not _that_ large. A couple of RAID servers handle data and index files just fine.
By introducing distribution, you introduce slowness, and slow speed is the last thing people want from a search engine or archive.
From a societal standpoint OTOH, anything that ends domination of a single entity over Usenet archiving is good.
If you don't like how Google's Usenet search engine and archive evolves (neither do I; Dejanews was tops for its time and things went downhill from there), help the competition...:-)
I already have an archive of around 600 million messages (nearly everything sans binaries from 2000 till today; just a couple of terabytes) and intend to create a public Usenet search engine. As I am using Usenet myself on a daily basis, I know what *I* want in a Usenet search engine, and that's quite different from what Google gives us.
Here's how you can help: Contact me at martin-k (at) softmaker.de if you have a private collection of Usenet postings that you want me to put in the database.
Pocket Word and Pocket Excel are NOT ported versions of Word and Excel, they are lame excuses for a word processor and spreadsheet.
Out of the box, because of bundled apps, Palm has better Microsoft Office integration than Pocket PCs. Not MUCH better because Documents To Go and QuickOffice are not really desktop-style applications, but still.
It's 3rd party products like SpreadCE and our very own TextMaker and PlanMaker that make Pocket PCs much nicer platforms for working with Office documents.
We still have Palm versions of our software under development, but with Palm*.* not getting their behinds off the ground with Palm OS 6, we are reconsidering this decision...:-(
Sounds cool. The Zaurii are great little devices. In combination with TextMaker for Zaurus (and hopefully the PlanMaker spreadsheet, too), this sounds like the perfect mobile office.
The trial versions are available from our web site, and the Free Editions are part of SUSE Professional 9.1.
TextMaker Free Edition doesn't have spelling tools, and PlanMaker Free Edition is limited in sheet size. Otherwise, they can be freely used and do not time out.
Slashdot Mirror
-mk
Martin Kotulla
SoftMaker Software GmbH
-mk
Simply put, blame the EU. We have to pay Value Added Tax (VAT) for sales to European customers and we don't have to do this for non-European customers.
Our US$ prices and our Euro prices are identical in numbers. This currently means a value difference of about 20%. This is close to the amount that we have to pay in VAT -- 16% now, going to 18% shortly.
If you can present a European VAT number, we can ship without VAT to you, but you have to pay your government's import VAT instead.
The European VAT tax system is convoluted, but the intent is not much different from the U.S. where you have to pay either sales tax or use tax.
Martin Kotulla SoftMaker Software GmbH
Yes, the filter is an import filter right now, and, yes, we will add an export filter as well. Have you written a filter today?
-mk
Martin Kotulla
SoftMaker Software GmbH
That's why I transferred all my domain registrations to Schlund Technologies. Nothing special about them, except that they are in Germany (where I am, too) and if required, I can get within a day a preliminary injunction against them if they tried to give me the run-around.
I'd love to add a Mac OS port, but right now we are already spreading us pretty thin... ;-)
Martin Kotulla
SoftMaker Software GmbH
In earnest, is anyone using Microsoft Office XML for anything?
Martin Kotulla
SoftMaker Software GmbH
The problem was with OOo file format documentation. It's huge but neither complete nor correct. The Oasis documentation was much better. We were backporting information from the Oasis docs to our OpenOffice filters.
Yes, when we finally complete our educational web site. Have a look at the German educational site to see what pricing you can expect - site licenses at 12 Euros...
Many people are telling me that OpenOffice could be faster and less demanding on memory, and these are areas where our own products shine. Have you never wanted OpenOffice to start a little quicker?
My personal feeling is that even open source products are not beyond the realm of criticism in areas where they fall down. Mind you, I am seeing that our little PlanMaker/OpenOffice comparison page is causing the OOo developers to improve their product. So, even if you never use TextMaker or PlanMaker, you profit from our little row.
Apart from that, I am still convinced that open document formats are the way to go if we all (united and apart) want to break Microsoft's monopoly.
I'm all for open file formats. That's why our own TextMaker 2005 will support OpenDocument (née Oasis) and OOo file formats. Not that developing a filter was much less daunting than developing our Microsoft Word filter... ;-)
TextMaker (especially the upcoming 2005 release) and PlanMaker are indeed highly Microsoft Office compatible but there is so much legacy crud in the .DOC file format that we still receive documents from customers and start think "What the..., how was this created?"
-mk
See English or Portuguese article about the SoftMaker apps on AMD's PIC.
Sure you didn't confuse this with the crippled XP Microsoft is selling in Asia?
www.softmaker.de/mailer_en.htm
You can either visit our website at www.softmaker.de from time to time or subscribe to our newsletter there. I'll announce it there.
I am not sure if this recollection is based on the superiority of the UI design at Deja compared to groups.google, less noise in the search results, or a general tendency of people to make the past better than it really was... ;-)
By introducing distribution, you introduce slowness, and slow speed is the last thing people want from a search engine or archive.
From a societal standpoint OTOH, anything that ends domination of a single entity over Usenet archiving is good.
I already have an archive of around 600 million messages (nearly everything sans binaries from 2000 till today; just a couple of terabytes) and intend to create a public Usenet search engine. As I am using Usenet myself on a daily basis, I know what *I* want in a Usenet search engine, and that's quite different from what Google gives us.
Here's how you can help: Contact me at martin-k (at) softmaker.de if you have a private collection of Usenet postings that you want me to put in the database.
-mk
TextMaker 2005 for Pocket PCs will have OpenOffice and OASIS filters.
Pocket Word and Pocket Excel are NOT ported versions of Word and Excel, they are lame excuses for a word processor and spreadsheet.
:-(
Out of the box, because of bundled apps, Palm has better Microsoft Office integration than Pocket PCs. Not MUCH better because Documents To Go and QuickOffice are not really desktop-style applications, but still.
It's 3rd party products like SpreadCE and our very own TextMaker and PlanMaker that make Pocket PCs much nicer platforms for working with Office documents.
We still have Palm versions of our software under development, but with Palm*.* not getting their behinds off the ground with Palm OS 6, we are reconsidering this decision...
Sounds cool. The Zaurii are great little devices. In combination with TextMaker for Zaurus (and hopefully the PlanMaker spreadsheet, too), this sounds like the perfect mobile office.
The trial versions are available from our web site, and the Free Editions are part of SUSE Professional 9.1.
TextMaker Free Edition doesn't have spelling tools, and PlanMaker Free Edition is limited in sheet size. Otherwise, they can be freely used and do not time out.