On 1/1/2011 11:07 AM, Zaphod Feeblejocks wrote:
Hi Sveinn,
Sure, but how about conservation and readability by future generations
(when there's no more Microsoft knowledge around and nobody knows
anymore how to decrypt all the nuances of.doc + .docx files) ?
Fair point.
But: most users do not care. Not exporting to Word will make it look like LibO
is faulty.
I have to save in MSO formats to share work with others. At work, we have an
MSO policy.
While I can use whatever I like on my desktop, I have to save spreadsheets in
MSO formats
because Excel 07 kills ODS formulae. If I prepare a document as ODT, the few
Word 2003
dies-hards complain I am refusing to inter-operate. I do still assign student
work to be
submitted as either .doc or .odt and mark students down for using .docx (they
failed to read
the instructions). They are also marked down for not using proper spacing and
a serif font.
I don't want to see the .docx format spread any further and advocate using ODT
as the
default. However, not having the option to export as .doc and .docx will cause
users to
wonder if they want to promote LibO.
I don't think anybody is saying LibO should drop .doc export -- just not try to export to the OOXML
"Transitional" formats. In theory, MS will go to OOXML "Strict" in the 2014 (or whenever) release,
and that should by then be a truly open format, if the comments submitted to the standards committee
are properly worked off. Meanwhile, exporting to the "Transitional" form for new documents is
specifically deprecated in the ISO standard; doing that really plays into a possible MS strategy to
continue to ignore the "Strict" version forever, maintaining the proprietary lock-in while claiming
to be open.
Several of the comments here suggest a middle road, allowing the save but with a message clarifying
the limitations of the format (and perhaps recommending use of the XP formats if interoperating with
an MS-only shop; their ODF support is not truly interoperable at a reasonable level, the older
formats come closer). That seems reasonable, at least for editing documents that are received in
these formats -- I'm not convinced it should be allowed for new work, though. At the least, the
SaveAs dialog should label the format using the word Transitional. It probably makes sense to start
working towards OOXML "Strict" export as soon as that is a reasonably stationary target, though.
Wouldn't it be great if LibO were the first implementation compliant with the ISO standard? And if
the other FOSS implementations also headed there, we could beat MS at their own game!
It must be arrogant for them to send you a format you don't support.
Also, if the Win 7 users don't know what format the documents are in,
why does it matter if it's returned to them in a .doc format?
Think you hit the nail on the head, pal.
Those who ignore any notion of a file format, will do it both ways,
always, anyways...
Office on-the-web only saves in docx. Office 2013/4 will quite possibly drop
.doc export,
just as Word 6/95 export was dropped from Word 2003 - after a failed attempt to
drop it
from 2000. MS can do this because they are the market leader. To fail to
offer even
rudimentary docx export would damage LibO's market penetration.
my thoughts anyway!
zf
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