"Microsoft Word users now can easily import and export to the OpenDocument Format. The StarOffice 8 Conversion Technology Preview, a plug-in for Microsoft Word 2003 that allows users of Microsoft Word 2003 to read, edit and save to the OpenDocument Format is now available."
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Member since:2005-07-06
It boggles my mind that this format can be an ECMA (and ISO now?) standard without an open reference implementation.
The problem isn't that there isn't an open reference implementation, the problem is that the proposed standard contains references to old extinct Microsoft products. E.g. it says things like "handle line breaks like MS Office version x". If you no longer can get hold of that version of office how are you supposed to make an implementation of your own, or test that your implementation actually follows the standard.
BTW, as far as I know OpenXML hasn't been approved as ISO standard yet and many principal standards bodies have filed contradictions.
Member since:2005-07-08
I suppose that's an important subset of the fact that there is no open reference implementation. These references to back-level MS Office functionality make it significantly harder to implement the specification, but by no means impossible. But would there really be any objection to this minor hurdle if Microsoft supplied an open reference implementation? I can't image it being very hard for a borderline-retarded person with an Internet connection to acquire a copy of every gold release of MS Office. Then it might take a week for a competent document suite developer to play around with the features referenced in the spec and characterize how each feature operates in the indicated version.
Compared with other structured data format specifications, OpenXML is certainly towards the top in sheer size and scope, but it's not terribly obscure, particularly because it is a text-based XML format designed to be compatible with one of the most popular software products of all-time. However, this is not just an specification, this is to be an internationally recognized standard for describing rich documents. It is simply too massive in size, scope, and world-wide socioeconomic implications to be adopted as a standard without an open reference implementation.
Member since:2005-07-06
The problem isn't that there isn't an open reference implementation, the problem is that the proposed standard contains references to old extinct Microsoft products. E.g. it says things like "handle line breaks like MS Office version x". If you no longer can get hold of that version of office how are you supposed to make an implementation of your own, or test that your implementation actually follows the standard.
Those are optional attributes whose implementation is not required to conform to the standard.
Member since:
2005-07-08
Yeah... Now all we need is for Microsoft to follow suit by releasing OpenXML filters for OpenOffice. Heck, as long as they're open source, I'm sure the KDE and GNOME guys wouldn't mind porting them to KOffice and "GNOME Office" (as if the latter really exists anymore).
It boggles my mind that this format can be an ECMA (and ISO now?) standard without an open reference implementation. We all know that MS is one of those corporations that simply doesn't care about what anyone else thinks, so it's not like we can do or say anything to expedite this process.
There's a saying that if the entire population of China jumped from a 1-meter height at the same time, it would create a tidal wave that would swamp the entire US. However, this is actually 8 orders of magnitude short of the energy released in the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. If the entire population of China jumped at the same time in protest of Microsoft's document formats, they wouldn't feel a thing in Redmond.