Novell tells OpenOffice to fork off
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| henke54 Dec 05, 2006 10:04 AM EDT |
Quoting:NOVELL HAS announced more fruit from its Microsoft collaboration. It is planning to fork off OpenOffice so that it supports Vole's Open XML.http://uk.theinquirer.net/?article=36164 http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20061204130954610 |
| exwintech Dec 05, 2006 10:12 AM EDT |
It's starting to look like, if you look behind the reasoning of that, as if Microsoft's taking yet another angle on getting wider approval, maybe including W3C, of its XML format. They seem to be exceeding miffed about OpenDoc having an ISO rating, so are doing whatever they can to get, or to seem to have, wider "official" approval... Regards, Dave. |
| herzeleid Dec 05, 2006 10:52 AM EDT |
Looking at this from another angle, ooo has been able to read/write ms office formats, a really useful ability as it turns out. So really, adding the ability to read/write the next ms format is a logical progression.... Still withholding judgment for now. |
| tuxchick Dec 05, 2006 10:58 AM EDT |
Three things stand out for me: 1. Microsoft is involved 2. Microsoft's and Novell's public statements conflict 3. Such bits and pieces of their agreements as are released publicly, and the various public statements are all so twisty and ambiguous no one can agree on what they really mean Like my mommy says, if it looks and smells like dog doo, don't try to tell people it's chocolate pudding. **edit** Oh yeah, and don't forget how deeply Microsoft is interfering with the Massachusetts state government because of ODF, to the point of trying to gut the state's IT department and transfer all decision-making to bought-n-paid for elected officials. |
| bigg Dec 05, 2006 2:06 PM EDT |
Maybe I'm in the minority on this, but I think Microsoft has a very good reason to be interoperable. Everyone has free access to the opendocument format. Not everyone has access to MS's formats. True, they can lock people into their software, but in a world with information sharing, they are also locking themselves out of many markets. What's easier, for the Office user to ask the OOo user to drop a few hundred bucks on Office (which may not be available to the OOo user) or for the Office user to download OOo? Furthermore, think about companies that run both Linux and Windows. Should all computers have one format (OOo) or is it better to have mixed formats? How about government users? How about international document sharing? How about sharing with third-world users for whom $10 is a lot of money, let alone whatever is the cost of Office? I think MS has a very good incentive to be completely interoperable as soon as possible, playing no games with customers. It's not like there will be a flood of users to OOo just because they are no longer locked in with file formats. |
| tuxchick Dec 05, 2006 2:43 PM EDT |
"Microsoft has a very good reason to be interoperable." Quite true. So what's stopping them? They can use the exact same FOSS code and same open standards, like ODF, as everyone else. They don't need tricksy deals with companies like Novell to be allowed to play, and they certainly don't need to issue vague patent threats against the very community they now pretend to be cooperating with. Dog doo all the way, ho ho ho! |
| rijelkentaurus Dec 05, 2006 3:22 PM EDT |
>Dog doo all the way, ho ho ho! Agreed. The last thing MS needs to do is to introduce yet another default format to confuse things. They could just use ODF or open up the DOC format. Why don't they? |
| jimf Dec 05, 2006 3:44 PM EDT |
> Why don't they? Lol, dog's don't think, they just doo... |
| djohnston Dec 05, 2006 4:12 PM EDT |
"Should all computers have one format (OOo) or is it better to have mixed formats?" OOo isn't a format, it's an office suite. The formats are odf and openXML. The difference is that anyone can implement a word processor to read and write odf format. The "open"XML specification, which is introduced with Office2007, and is the default "save as" format, isn't even readable by previous versions of MSWord. How's that for interoperability? |
| bigg Dec 05, 2006 4:18 PM EDT |
I'm not saying they will do the interoperability thing, but they should. I don't think they necessarily have sinister motives. They definitely do not have a monopoly on the office suite market. |
| tuxchick Dec 05, 2006 4:18 PM EDT |
"How's that for interoperability?" Innovative! |
| Abe Dec 05, 2006 4:54 PM EDT |
Quoting:I don't think they necessarily have sinister motivesBigg, No offense, but how long have you been in IT? |
| jsusanka Dec 05, 2006 6:00 PM EDT |
I don't understand the whole thing personally - wouldn't it just be a lot easier and a lot less trouble for all involved if microsoft just added odf support in their product. I guess that would leave a lot of lawyers with nothing to do and ballmer would have to keep his trap shut. |
| tuxchick Dec 05, 2006 6:02 PM EDT |
"I guess that would leave a lot of lawyers with nothing to do and ballmer would have to keep his trap shut. " What a great sentence for demonstrating the difference between "possible" and "probable". |
| salparadise Dec 05, 2006 10:03 PM EDT |
Ah yes, Novells new fork of OO for Windows. I tried it yesterday. A 2 page document made in OO and saved as .doc rendered as a 138 page document in Word 2007. Saved as Office 2003 xml wouldn't open at all in Word 2007 reporting a "corrupted table". It was a brief test I grant you. Never-the-less, not a very promising one. |
| salparadise Dec 06, 2006 2:34 AM EDT |
I need to further qualify the above statement. The file I tried was created on OpenOffice on Linux. So, this morning I recreated the document on this Novell OO for Windows release. Again, a two page document with a table and three frames containing text. When saved as a Word 2003 xml file the formatting was pretty badly mangled. When saved as a Word 97/XP .doc it opened in Word 2007 perfectly. This really is a step forward in compatibility, even if you do have to register with Novell and download this "special" version from them to run on Windows in order to achieve it. As to whether you should support this is another matter entirely. I suspect "our" counter arguments should be clear and easy to understand else "we" will appear to be being petty and stubborn and this will damage the image of the Linux community. |
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