On Wed, Jul 19, 2006 11:41:16 AM +0200, Nicolas Mailhot
([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have several complex corp documents which make OO.o go crazy one
> way or another. I'd like to report the bugs to get them fixed, but
> OO.o devs will just ignore me without test documents and there's no
> way I'll post internal company info in the wild. [...]
hmmm... This same discussion happened here 2/3 years ago. I already
pointed out, back then, that I had had to give up OO.o on the job
because it would *not* exchange complex documents (patent
applications, scientific papers...) with MS Office in any acceptable
way, AND that I could not submit confidential company docs as test
documents.
> Is there a way to take an OO.o doc, get [everything]... anonymized?
Afraid not, because basically it's not a technical problem.
> corporations don't like disseminating internal info for debugging
> purposes
Exactly. The real problem is legal. In those same corporations, you
are going to be fired or (badly) reported to your manager if you:
* install and use any unhautorized software on company hardware
* send out any company file, scrambled or not, without a reason
related to your official assignment or job description
* spend company time doing anything not related to your official etc..
* bring company files at home _not_ for work reasons, to "play" with
them with unknown sw on a home PC which could contain trojans
releasing the files on the net
* etc....
Unless, of course, one managed to get an official company policy which
authorizes and handles how employees can support for free, during work
hours, some unused sw, after the same corporation outsorced all
aspects of IT to 3rd parties since it's not "core business"....
The existence of an anonymizing macro wouldn't change this a bit: it
just cannot be used in many workplaces, period, unless one goes
through way more trouble and _risks_ than any potential benefit.
Assuming, of course, that such a macro would be actually useful and
usable:
Submitter: "see, OO.o screws up the placement of all integral simbols
in the equation on page 5"
Developer: "which of these scrambled characters was the integral?"
Answer A: "Gee, I can't figure it out anymorein this mess"
Answer B: "Er, it's lowercase Z. Which has a completely different size
and shape, so it causes different effects..."
That's why, I believe, it wasn't written then and won't be written (or
used) yet for another while. Which is a pity, I agree.
For the record, back then I concluded suggesting that, rather than
waiting until complex corporate files can be submitted, it could be
much more effective if the filter developers stopped waiting for user
input but:
* systematically searched online *published* patent applications,
research papers and so on
* opened them in OpenOffice
* patched it until the files look good.
I don't know if this has ever been attempted at any scale.
Luckily, in another year or two it will be Microsoft which will have
to be able to render OpenDocument correctly, not the other way
around. Then, at least for new documents, it won't be an OO.o problem
anymore.
Ciao,
Marco
--
Marco Fioretti mfioretti, at the server mclink.it
Fedora Core 5 for low memory http://www.rule-project.org/
[Free SW should] give people with old computers the possibility of a
modern system... Ubuntu's motto is Linux for Human Beings - but Human
Beings mostly don`t have western incomes.
adapted from a request on the "Ubuntu Lite" mailing list
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