<orcnotes> inline -----Original Message----- From: BRM [mailto:bm_witn...@yahoo.com.INVALID] Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2014 08:12 To: dev@openoffice.apache.org Subject: Re: Improved OOXML support?
On Wednesday, October 22, 2014 1:03 AM, Jörg Schmidt <joe...@j-m-schmidt.de> wrote: > From: BRM [mailto:bm_witn...@yahoo.com.INVALID] > > Unfortunately that will always be the state of OOXML > > integration for anyone other than Microsoft since OOXML is a > > poorly defined standard that relies on many binary extensions > > that are not published. Kind of like the old DOC/XLS/PPT/MDB > > formats that were (in many ways) memory dumps of their > > respective applications - only for OOXML they're wrapped by XML. > > > > Until Microsoft publishes a real standard no one will ever be > > able to have true inter-operability. > > Of course, this kind of hurts Microsoft too since they > > basically have the same problems with OOXML that they had > > with the old formats between versions of their own Office > > products; a good standard would make that a non-issue. > Sorry, but in this case MS is not to blame. The OOXML format is published as > ISO > standard. Yes it is a published ISO standard, but one that relies on many unpublished extensions.Yes, AOO can implement something that implements the one-off ISO standard (there have been no updates AFAIK);however, it will always be a chasing a moving, undocumented target for all those extensions which MS Office uses extensively. <orcnote> OOXML is in its 4th edition (December 2012) and I believe another is on its way. It is under active maintenance at the ISO level, and you can always get the specs most easily from ECMA. See <http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-376.htm>. I'm not so sure about "unpublished" extensions. There is a mechanism provided in the OOXML Standard for introducing extensions and my impression is that Microsoft is careful to use the mechanism and specify what theirs are, just as they also publish their profile for what they support in ODF. </orcnote> > We could discuss problems of this ISO standard in detail, but this is not> > necessary because the fact that LibreOffice has implemented appropriate > filters, > proves that it is not a problem of the OOXML standard. No, just that someone has kept it up to some degree and spent time figuring out a set of those extensions that seems common enough.LO doesn't have perfect OOXML compatibility with MS Office either; just better than AOO right now. And, as I noted, even MS Office has problems with OOXML compatibility between versions of itself.Not because of the standard but because of all the unpublished extensions to the standard; extensions which are likely just binary dumps of memory again. > I find it really strange that it seems impossible to find companies that are> > willing to integrate corresponding filter in AOO, as a normal commercial > support. Probably because it is not an easy task, too much of a moving target, and more.Yes, you can figure out a series of files, but there will always be something that is not completely compatible.While there may be a published XML-based Base for the OOXML file formats, there are still many parts that are not. And yes, I'll applaud anyone that takes it on. Just saying, don't expect perfection, and don't expect to not to have to continuously be working on it because it is a continously moving target. And that is the juxt of my point in this whole thread. <orcnote> I suspect that a bigger detriment to someone building commercial filters for AOO OOXML support is finding a meaningful business model, since these presumably have to be made freely available and even open-source. It might be easier for developers who are immersed in the Microsoft (Office) technology to build better ODF conversions for Microsoft Office than start on the AOO side. That might be a superior point of leverage. I suspect there is still a business model problem since any enterprise or institution that finds this very important could presumably use their leverage with Microsoft directly to have better ODF support. </orcnote> $0.02 Ben --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscr...@openoffice.apache.org For additional commands, e-mail: dev-h...@openoffice.apache.org
