Tim Smith wrote:
> In article <1386976.u9ZYjIMcSx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
> Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> The real issue here is that they got locked in. File formats will keep
>> their vital data hostage. They had a teaser/trial version with an empty
>> promise of zero cost for the future. Then greed kicked in. I said this
>> earlier in a different thread, but we are beginning to see many signs
>> that Microsoft squeezes the golden goose in order to keep up its
>> otherwise-declining revenues (and, no, stock kickbacks can't hide this).
>
> How exactly does one get locked in when using a file format that dozens
> of programs, from several different companies, can read and write,
> including open source programs?
AFAIK MS has never published its file formats. Non-MS programs that can read
and write MS documents can do so because the file formats have been reverse
engineered by the people who wrote the programs. Open Office, for example,
gets better and better at dealing with MS-Word files, but there are still
cases where it trips up. "Most of the time" is OK for many purposes, but in
a commercial environment where files must be exchanged within and between
companies, even the slightest incompatibility can have unpleasant
consequences. MS certainly knows this.
--
Les
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