On Sat Oct 16 2010 10:22:44 GMT-0700 (PDT) Wm Stewart wrote:
On 10/16/2010 12:07 PM, RA Brown wrote:
How do you propose to make OOo 100% compatible with MSO? The structure of
the files is closed so no one but MS has them. Reverse engineering can
only
do so much. _IF_ MS used a published format that everyone could access
then
it would be easy to do, but they don't.
Andy
Hi Andy, the main evidence that it can be done is in the history of what
has been done: OO is so much more compatible than it was. To go the
rest of the way is a matter of solving the issues one by one. For
example, most of the remaining issues with Writer are alignment,
headers, footers, tables, images, that are misaligned from Word to
Writer and vice versa.
I'm not saying it is easy, a few minutes work, to fix these issues. I
am saying that:
a. It can be done by taking input documents with problems and solving
them one by one, as the problems already solved have been.
b. Solving compatibility is under the community's control and doable,
while the hurdle to get the world to change to Microsoft / ODF first is
much higher and has not yet worked.
c. If we want to win the battle, the two links submitted with my
original post show that solving the remaining compatibility issues is
necessary. Provide complete compatibility and the world will convert in
a relatively short period of time, because of the usual open source
advantages - low cost, and lower risk because the software is a shared
global resource and not owned by a single company.
We've been at this discussion for years now. I believe evidence trumps
opinion. We have the same goal, but the evidence shows that putting the
format before the software is not what users, business, or government
want. And it has not worked. If we "embrace and replace", OO will win
quickly.
Ok. So the developers spend what, several hundred hours "fixing" the
compatibility issues. Next release MS changes the format, as they just
did with making even older versions of their on software in compatible
and older documents useless.
The internet would be totally worthless if MS had their way. Open
standards are the only way to level the playing field. As long as MS
uses closed standards it can not be done. Look how MS has tried to
change the "standards" with their own, claiming to embrace open
standards. OOXML is just one example.
Andy
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