If I may inject what I hope is a little sense into this argument:- A major strength of Open Office is and always was that it could read and often write documents in many proprietary formats. That strength should remain solidly a feature of Libre Office and for exactly the same reasons.
When it comes to the Microsoft formats there is a significant issue with writing the formats - specifically, that even Microsoft cannot fully adhere to the standards they set. This is a major fault and it is one which Microsoft has placed into the marketplace. It leaves Libre Office with three choices when it comes to these formats. It can either:- 1. Write in the format as used by Microsoft. 2. Write in the format as specified in the ISO standard. 3. Refuse to write in the new formats at all. The problem with option 1 is that it is a strictly proprietary form which even Microsoft admits does not actually meet the open standard. It is therefore open to attacks using patent and other legislation if adopted by Libre Office. The problem with option 2 is that while it is an open standard it does not actually fully work with Microsoft Office and is therefore a pointless choice until (according to Microsoft) at least 2014. The problem with option 3 is that Libre Office would be left in the situation where its own files would need to be read by the ODF open feature in Microsoft Office, thus making Microsoft appear to be the ones making efforts to read "incompatible" formats. I would suggest that this is the very reason why Microsoft has taken this action with these formats. We are left, in short, with just two realistic choices. Either we reverse-engineer the OOXML as actually used and let Microsoft scream about it (as they certainly would) or we simply ignore the format for written documents and write them in the old "doc" format... while telling people clearly on the download website that this is because we are prevented from using the Microsoft "open" standard. Given the work involved in these choices, I would suggest the only realistic option is the latter one. -- Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to [email protected] Archive: http://listarchives.documentfoundation.org/www/discuss/ *** All posts to this list are publicly archived for eternity ***
