Sun's OpenDocument filter for MS office is finished
,----[ Quote ]
| Under the name Sun ODF Plug-in for Microsoft Office, Sun has released its
| import/export filter for the OpenDocument format (ODF), which the ISO has
| recognized as a standard, for versions 2000, XP, and 2003 of Microsoft's
| Office suite; the plug-in can be downloaded via our software repository.
`----
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/92193
Denmark to test Open XML, ODF next year
,----[ Quote ]
| Government backing for document formats is seen as significant because it
| could help promote wider use of the standards in the market. If
| governments mandate the use of ODF, it could help office suites
| such as OpenOffice.org, which use the standard, to compete more
| effectively with Microsoft's dominant Office suite.
`----
http://www.linuxworld.com.au/index.php?id=1866057405&rid=-50
[Standards analogy:] Choice and Light Bulbs
,----[ Quote ]
| I want a choice of colours, of energy technologies, of wattages,
| of shapes, of reflector styles and so on. But I want them all with
| a common connector so that when I'm shopping I know any bulb will
| work. Choice that serves the customer is choice of bulb, not of connector.
`----
http://blogs.sun.com/webmink/entry/choice_and_light_bulbs
Related:
Achieving Openness: a closer look at ODF & OOXML
,----[ Quote ]
| Overall, a comparison of both formats reveals significant differences
| in their levels of openness. While ODF is revealed as sufficiently
| open across all four key criteria, OOXML shows relative weakness in
| each criteria and offers fundamental flaws that undermine its
| candidacy as a global standard.
`----
http://fussnotes.typepad.com/Achieving_Openness_1point0.html
In case you were wondering how big 6000 pages is: OpenXML/OOXML/whatever
,----[ Quote ]
| Take a look at this photo from an OOXML workshop. (Read the blog entry
| too.) [Photo of a pile of 6,000+ pages]
|
| I don't know what your job is, but imagine your boss came to you and
| said "read this, fully understand it, implement it perfectly, and make
| sure that it fully interoperates with the software being produced by
| anyone else doing the same." Translate this statement to your own job
| and stare again at that photo. What do you conclude?
|
| * You'll have lifetime employment trying to implement the spec.
| * Your boss comes from another wacko parallel universe.
| * This is a joke if not a travesty.
| * Your job evaluation will not be very good next year.
| * There is no way you can fully do the job without
| reimplementing significant portions of Microsoft's product
| portfolio and therefore you will run into intellectual
| property problems. (Don?t think that's a problem?)
| * Microsoft is trying to change the rules on what is a standard
| and who can implement it.
`----
http://www.sutor.com/newsite/blog-open/?p=1634
Packing The Court At The ISO?
,----[ Quote ]
| ...P member countries ('participating member' countries) sending
| representatives, and I am interested to note the majority of
| their representatives are, as individuals, also Microsoft employees.
|
| [...]
|
| How can they not see that OOXML (ECMA 376) is unwanted by anyone outside of
| Microsoft? How about it Brian Jones? Are you really so desperate that you
| have to resort to that?
`----
http://lnxwalt.wordpress.com/2007/03/23/packing-the-court-at-the-iso/
|
|
