In comp.os.linux.advocacy, Roy Schestowitz
<newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote
on Wed, 24 May 2006 22:37:37 +0100
<5864796.ncPgY1ggnV@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
> __/ [ Mark Kent ] on Wednesday 24 May 2006 21:05 \__
>
>> begin oe_protect.scr
>> Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
>>> Imagining a day without Microsoft
>>>
>>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>>| "[Microsoft] didn't establish [its standards] in a nice sort of way, but
>>>| they are the basis for a lot of things that we use and do with
>>>| computers."
>>>|
>>>| Today you can send a Word document to anybody in the world and expect
>>>| them to be able to open it
>>
>> Except they can't, can they? Microsoft Word's current version only runs
>> on a small proportion of the hardware out there. I can't open it on my
>> phone, for example. I can't open current versions on any of my older
>> PCs even if they run Windows.
>>
>> This whole argument is puerile.
>
>
> *LOL* I didn't even think about it, but you are right. It is a bit like the
> Web before good standards were introduced, encouraged, and sometimes even
> forced. Accessibility has become a major concern because of Net
> dependability, if not neutrality as well.
"Good"? I'm not sure about that. HTTP is a freakin mess, mostly
because of cookies. SOAP is probably going to get slippery.
Javascript has issues because of the browser dichotomy.
If Microsoft's real lucky .NET/C# (and C#, AIUI, is an ISO
standard, along with at least part of the .NET API) will
become a de facto standard much like Word's file format.
But I have my doubts.
>
>
>>> . According to Meadow, it takes forever for people to
>>>| agree to these kinds of standards.
>>
>> Haha! Would that be because Microsoft don't want a standard, by any
>> chance?
>
>
> When the standards fail (or the non-standard backward-engineered), turn to
> DRM. Ask Ballmer. He knows.
DRM is an interesting mess as well. Basically, it's an
attempt to apply widget/token logic to nearly-infinitely
duplicable data.
Microsoft, of course, wants a standard it can control. (Doesn't
everybody? :-) )
>
>
>>>|
>>>| Josh Greenbaum, principal at Enterprise Applications Consulting, says,
>>>| "Downloads for [StarOffice] would bring the Internet to a screeching
>>>| halt."
>>> `----
>>>
>>> http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/05/23/78519_22OPreality_1.html
>>
>> By using a standard file format? Using an office suite that'll run on
>> far more architectures and machines than MS Word? Where do these people
>> pull these things from?
>
>
> [no offence intended] A pea brain and 30 years in journalism.
> Evidently, it's their level of /writing/ expertise, but not
> competence with the issue at hand, that grants them a voice.
> I have always loathed it.
All one needs for a voice nowadays is some storage space, a Web server,
and an Internet uplink. Brain optional. :-)
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Roy
>
--
#191, ewill3@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Windows Vista. Because it's time to refresh your hardware. Trust us.
|
|
