On 20 Dec 2010 at 14:47, Barbara Duprey wrote: > On 12/19/2010 5:44 PM, Ugly wrote: > > Bob, > > If you don't have MS Works any longer, I can possibly try to copy the > > sucker over for you. > > > > Barb, > > May I ask why OOo can't import files from MS Access? One of the things > > that appeared to be a "selling" point of OOo is its compatibility with MS > > Office. > > I've always looked for a means to import files from MS Publisher. Is it > > because there is no interest in the project? Microsoft makes it too > > difficult to emulate the file format? Or are there legal aspects as well? > > As I understand it, the basic models for how things are constructed are very > different, and the > proprietary nature of the formats also causes problems. Also, I believe the > developer team for Base
I echo Barb's comments re the proprietary formats. IIRC, a number of OS developers have, over the years, started work on a .PUB viewer/converter and found the file format mired in patents, as well as being very difficult to preserve layout. If you simply want to get your data out, there are a number of on-line conversion tools (Google for ".PUB conversion") that will give you a choice of several output formats. As for Base - I know one organisation that contributes to OOo/LibO and that has interests in sorting out Base's Access import. The concensus seems to be that re-engineering in MySQL is the preferred route. I don't know if this is for technical reasons relating to .MDB or a desire to redo a number of hacked-together projects in a maintainable fashion. zf --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
