__/ [ arachnid ] on Thursday 01 June 2006 03:59 \__
> On Thu, 01 Jun 2006 02:32:46 +0000, Jim wrote:
>
>> arachnid wrote:
>
>>> Depends on whether your data is already locked up in proprietary
>>> formats. As I understand it OpenOffice is mostly compatable but is
>>> still lacking in a few areas.
>>>
>>> It'll be interesting to see what MS does about this. MS-Office lock-in
>>> is far too important to let OpenOffice take it away. I've a feeling
>>> things are about to get nasty.
>>
>> OpenOffice is and has been for a bloody long time, using the ISO
>> standard OpenDocument format. Proprietery MSO formats are about to die a
>> horrible death, and I say good bloody riddance.
>
> I wouldn't be too sure about that. MS will move the goalposts again and
> try to get people locked back in, only this time they'll find some clever
> way that can't be reverse engineered. Maybe they'll use DRM (illegal to
> defeat) or software patents, or maybe they'll come up with some insanely
> clever dirty trick like they've been doing for that past 25 years.
>
> There's a window of opportunity here. If people jump to OpenOffice now,
> then nearly everything they've saved in MS-Office format to date will be
> accessible (and the rest will come along shortly), plus they can move to
> ODF. However if they use future versions of MS Office, they'll get
> themselves locked in again - and next time around there may be no way out
> without losing data.
Excellent point made. I believe that Microsoft will refuse to give up without
a fight. When ODF for a change, this may end up in the courts or the formats
be reverse-engineered all over again.
IBM are tossing obscene amounts of money at Sun developers, due to
OpenOffice, which they need for their clients. With Open Source around,
Abiword, KWord and others will be able to pick up the clues (or even code).
Best wishes,
Roy
--
Roy S. Schestowitz, Ph.D. Candidate (Medical Biophysics)
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