Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 21st Aug 2006 19:03 UTC
Features, Office "The OpenDocument Format is an emerging file format standard for electronic office documents. Representing a triumph of common sense over the methods conceived before the rise of the Internet, ODF's goals are both exciting and controversial. Early adopters of the format include state and municipal governments in some near and far-flung places, and this makes the format's progress a thing to watch. Yet innovation theory tells us there are some hurdles we all must overcome before ODF becomes a regular topic of conversation at the ballpark. Those in the know, however, recognize that we're in about the second inning of a barn-burner. So, grab a hot dog and a beer, and settle in for a classic."
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RE[4]: Oh wait ...
by MollyC on Tue 22nd Aug 2006 14:20 UTC in reply to "RE[3]: Oh wait ... "
MollyC
Member since:
2006-07-04

Those four implementations of ODF aren't even compatibile with each other. KOffice and OO.o have problems reading each other's documents.

ODF is an incomplete spec. It even lacks a specification as to how to save spreadsheet forumlas. It lacks sufficient support for Asian languages. It's slow. It's not vendor-neutral, as it was derived from OO.o's previous XML format, and therefore lends itself to OO.o's code structure.

Public Enemy had it right: "Don't believe the hype."

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 2

RE[5]: Oh wait ...
by hal2k1 on Tue 22nd Aug 2006 15:01 in reply to "RE[4]: Oh wait ... "
hal2k1 Member since:
2005-11-11

//Those four implementations of ODF aren't even compatibile with each other. //
Not true. Koffice originally had a bit of trouble with formulas. Fixed now.
http://www.koffice.org/announcements/announce-1.5.php
http://www.koffice.org/news.php
"More than 2 months before the final release, the KOffice team is happy to present you the first preview of the newest 1.6 version. This release includes mostly new features in Kexi and Krita, scripting support in KSpread and OpenDocument support in KFormula."

//It even lacks a specification as to how to save spreadsheet forumlas. //

This was a problem to start with:
http://software.newsforge.com/software/05/09/09/192250.shtml?tid=93
But it is not true any more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDocument_technical_specification#S...
leads to OpenFormula:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenFormula
http://www.dwheeler.com/openformula/

//It lacks sufficient support for Asian languages. //

Not true.
http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/software/0,39044164,39380446,00.htm
http://www.openmalaysiablog.com/2006/07/odf_proposed_to.html

//It's slow.//
Myth. Early versions of OpenOffice were slow, BEFORE OpenOffice began to use ODF.

//t's not vendor-neutral, as it was derived from OO.o's previous XML format, and therefore lends itself to OO.o's code structure.//
Not true. OpenOffice's previous formats (.sxw etc) are not ODF compatible.

//Public Enemy had it right: "Don't believe the hype."//

Don't believe MS propoganda you mean.
http://www.robweir.com/blog/2006/07/throwing-stones-at-people-in-gl...

Edited 2006-08-22 15:05

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 1