__/ [ nessuno@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ] on Thursday 04 May 2006 01:51 \__
> "Software industry group Open Source Victoria has teamed up with NSW
> technology company Phase N to develop a plug-in for Microsoft Office
> users to view documents in the Open Document Format....
>
> "Microsoft Office does not support the Open Document Format, the
> next-generation standard for office documents such as word processor
> files, spreadsheets and slide-show presentations....
>
> "Most office productivity suites on the market, including
> OpenOffice.org, Sun's StarOffice, Corel Office, Abiword, KOffice and
> others, support the format.
>
> "'The major hold-out here is Microsoft, which refuses to support ODF -
> a decision that seems based on self-serving reasons, to protect the
> near-monopoly of their high-priced Office suite,' Mr Zymaris said. 'The
> ones who will suffer are the users.'"
>
>
http://www.smh.com.au/news/breaking/opendoc-plugin-for-ms-office-users/2005/10/20/1129775888552.html
ODF support will become a more compelling move once you (or anyone else for
that matters) start sending your peers some ODF-formatted files. Since the
files are interpretable using free, Open Source tools (and the formats are
ISO standardised and formally documented), there will be no valid excuse
against their use.
When those who have purchased the overpriced Office find themselves unable to
load/save in a standard and ubiquitous format, they will feel
disappointment, which in turn puts pressure on the Office development team.
That said, the OpenOffice folks are already ahead in the game as their
support (as well others', namely OSS peerage) of ODF is mature and reliable.
Office will have to literally catch up with ODF, which is now an ISO
standard (probably the *only* such standard) for documents. Anything else
will be assumed "adverse to standards", proprietary and irregular.
Microsoft's proposed XML-reliant format is yet to be seen. Whether its gets
ISO approval/certification (not sure about terminology here...), we are yet
to see. Support from OO, StarOffice, Corel Office, Abiword, and KOffice is
another aspect altogether. I bet that Alan Yates does not sleep well at
night.
Best wishes,
Roy
--
Roy S. Schestowitz
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