__/ [ B Gruff ] on Saturday 04 November 2006 14:59 \__
> "We see yesterday's announcement as further acknowledgement from Microsoft
> that ODF is something customers are demanding," said Marino Marcich,
> Managing Director of the ODF Alliance. "By making it easier for some Open
> Office users to access files stored in Microsoft's Office Open XML format,
> it makes it easier for customers to adopt ODF without worrying about the
> difficulty of tapping into files stored in a proprietary format that others
> may send them, or that they may have stored in their own systems."
> "Open Office and other ODF-supporting implementations already support a
> variety of legacy or proprietary formats, and Office Open XML will be a
> welcome addition. In terms of Microsoft's translator project that would
> save Word files in the ODF format, the Alliance still thinks that the
> translator project does not yet provide true interoperability, and we
> encourage Microsoft to provide native support in Office that will allow
> users to save to ODF as easily as any other format."
>
> http://www.odfalliance.org/press/Release%2020061103.pdf
>
> Now that's what *I* call a Diplomatic Statement - and to make it even more
> Diplomatic, they say it in PDF!
Part of Novell's agreement with Ballmer and the gand involved Open XML
incorporation into OpenOffice, with changed to percolate back to the main
openOffice branch. Essentially, to play devil's (not Window's) advocate,
this could mean that ODF becomes secondary or has parity with Open XML. Why
is this bad? OpenOffice may be able to cope with both, but what about Lotus
Notes? And Abiword? And KOffice? Moreover, who is it that /controls/ that
Open XML format?
Microsoft wishes to control formats and 'standards'. It used IE to do this to
HTML/CSS. It wants to replace PDF with its own crap. It wants the world to
use .Net and Exchange servers. It wants the world to use Active Directory.
Control of the technology allows you to stay ahead and embow rivalry aside.
Don't let Ballmer and the gang get this. Learn from the past...
Best wishes,
Roy
--
Roy S. Schestowitz | Othello for Win32/Linux: http://othellomaster.com
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