On Tuesday 15 May 2012 14:30:37 Peter C. Ndikuwera wrote:

> But don't you see that this is the big problem? You want to force users to
> change how they work to suit how you develop. 

I'm tryin to get results at the least costs.

> (And isn't MS's XML format 
> published as well? I hesitate to say "open")

The problem is it's transiency. Microsoft tends to add "features" (and change 
them as well). They do not managed to to make a open standard of it, and that 
tells a lot regarding the power of Microsoft in the business. 

> Are you going to convince the standard idiot user who uses Word that they
> have to save as ODF? What about the 3000 documents he has on his hard disk
> that are in Word (and that open in just about every version of Word since
> Word XP [albeit with the Office 2007 addin]) How many ODF documents do you
> estimate fly around the web? 

How many Word93 Documents fly around the web? Users are trapped in it, that 
true, and to make odf the standard company format needs a decision from the 
top. Those decision makers can somtimes barely distinguish a pc from a 
washing machine, never learned to calculate the operation costs of a IT 
landscape.

> Same for Latex.

Not really, as Latex documets tend to be published as pdf documents on the 
net. There is a notable count of pdf documents on the net. On the other hand, 
even when the LaTeX format is more sustaining then office formats, to use it 
in a commercial environment i would call a "interesting academic study".

> German => Polish is a bit of a silly example. US English Libre Office can't
> open US English Word Document.

Word freezes Windows while opening a word document is not a silly example but 
a very serious problem. To make it more clear: imagine windows freezing while 
u try in Kampala to open a word document sent to u from Mbarara, created with 
the very same release of word, just created using the Runyankole version 
while u try to open it using the Luganda version. That how u have to see 
that. Data exchange over a border in Europe using Microsoft software became 
tricky with Windows95, it eased with the time, but is still not always 
trivial.

Okello

-- 
Separating code and design in websites http://www.uHTML.info
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