very well said. On 28 January 2012 20:44, webmaster for Kracked Press Productions < [email protected]> wrote:
> > The issue back then was everyone had their own proprietary file format, > since there was no common one that could be used by any company, except > "txt" and other formats that did not keep the file's formatting properly. > No company would allow you to use their proprietary formats. > > The there was a movement to create a common file format that everyone > could use. In the end, that set of document formats developed into the > Open Document Formats. > > Now any company can use this non-proprietaryset of document formats to > create, read, or edit documents created by other companies' packages. > > Yes, it was total chaos. I remember having to manually edit some document > files in a "text editor" to remove the formatting codes so it could be read > by a different word processor, since the facility did not have that > package. That worked for some formats, but not others. Now there is one > standard ODF, although Microsoft would say it is their formats. > > Yes MSO formats have dominated the field of what formats are used, but MS > did not share its proprietary formats with the competitors. OOo and LO had > to reverse-engineer its ability to read MSO formats. MS did try to get its > "XML based formats" [docx and such] made into an International standard, > but would not give up control of its development, which is a requirement to > make it fully an open standard - no one company can control an open > standard, since it would have its development "controlled" by an > international committee of companies and groups of people/users who want to > make it better. MS wanted to publish a version of their "standard" in a > way that there would be still proprietary parts to the open standard that > required MS products to use them properly. Also they wanted to decide what > would be done to that "standard" without any other company/group having a > say. This is a sore subject for some of us, with all of MS's legal [and > illegal] behind the scenes politics [and bribery] to make their "open" > formats be THE international standard after the vote decided on ODF as the > [one an only] ISO standard for office document formats. > > Chaos was the past. Greed is what is going on now. The "true" use of a > free open format by most [hopefully all] of the office packages should be > our future. LO uses ODF as their default. As changes are proposed and > developed, LO should modify its filters/programming to use those > modifications of ODF properly in their created/edited documents. LO/TDF is > not in control of that format, but can offer up proposals to make it work > better in the "real world" of office use. MS wants every user to use their > "open" formats, but you must use their office package to use it fully and > properly. MS does not want to hand over the ability of its competitors to > read/write/edit files created with their packages, so that users no longer > need to use its office package. That was the way of most of the word > processors and office packages in the past. Most of them, excluding MS, > have decided that it would be better to go with the international movement > and be able to properly read/write/edit a single fully open set of document > formats, instead of forcing users to buy their package to read/write/edit > files that were created with their packages. It is better to use an ISO > set of document formats. > > Now these office packages will be used if and only if they are determined > to be the best/easiest package for the users to get their word done. > > LO and other FOSS packages include the idea of "best" to include "free" in > its definition. > > For many of us, with limited budgets and other issues, choose free over > paid packages. > > "Why pay for software when you can legally get software that does the same > thing for free?" FOSS package creators do not have the "must make as much > profit" attitude as companies like MS does. That attitude is what drove > the file format "chaos" of the early days of desktop computing. Now that > that industry has grown out if its childhood years, we need to survive its > teenage years. The concept of "true openness" of the Internet hopefully > will make its adulthood a much better place, with less chaos and with a > more "grown up" attitude like what people should teach their children to > make them a better adult. > > > On 01/28/2012 02:43 AM, soumalya ray wrote: >> i was just wondering-there are so many file formats in this world.if this >> is the case now,what was the picture 5-10 years back!!its a total chaos. >> > > > -- > For unsubscribe instructions e-mail to: [email protected].** > org <users%[email protected]> > Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/**get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-** > unsubscribe/<http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/> > Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.**documentfoundation.org/** > Netiquette <http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette> > List archive: > http://listarchives.**libreoffice.org/global/users/<http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/> > All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be > deleted > > -- Dr soumalya ray <http://drsoumalya.blogspot.com> <[email protected]> MBBS,MD(PGT-C.Medicine),Ex-HousePhysician(Medicine) Skype: som3776 | Twitter: @docbkp <http://twitter.com/docbkp> -- For unsubscribe instructions e-mail to: [email protected] Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
