"As nice as Open Office Excel is for a free application, it doesn't even come close to the performance and usability of Microsoft Office Excel. There is no shame in losing to a commercially funded application, but no one should make false statements that Microsoft Office is bloated and inferior. The only remaining question for businesses and homes is whether Excel is worth the money and most have apparently decided yes." Update: OOo 1.1.5 has been released.
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Member since:2005-07-06
The point is that "Open Format" and "binary" aren't mutually exclusive. Are you ever going to open an xml OOo file with a text editor and fiddle with it? Don't really think so.
Point taken, but binary formats have other problems - endian related problems whan moving files between different architectures comes to mind. Textual formats are generally easier to port, easier to validate, etc.
Also while you generally wouldn't open an OOo file in a text-editor I would imagine it could be handy in debugging situations.
Member since:2005-07-06
> Point taken, but binary formats have other problems -
> endian related problems whan moving files between
> different architectures comes to mind.
This is another mith that needs to be debunked. By using a textual representation of data you're exchanging an endianess conversion for a text to whatever_is_the_inmemory_representation of the data.
Endianess conversion is one, at most 2 instructions on any architecture, compare it with the conversion of a number represented in text to its inmemory representation.
In other words, you still need a conversion, whether or not it concerns the endianess.
> Textual formats are generally easier to port, easier
> to validate, etc.
I beg to differ. It's much easier to work with numbers directly than convert them forth and back from their textual representation. Not to mention much less reduntant and much more resource-friendly.
> Also while you generally wouldn't open an OOo file in
> a text-editor I would imagine it could be handy in
> debugging situations.
You can always build a debug tool specific for the purpose. In case of a standardized binary format, like IFF, you could build such a tool once, and use it for any past and future IFF file.
Member since:
2005-07-06
> But having an open format anyone can implement is worth
> it IMHO.
The point is that "Open Format" and "binary" aren't mutually exclusive. Are you ever going to open an xml OOo file with a text editor and fiddle with it? Don't really think so.
Once there was this nice 'IFF' format...