Good idea but there's one major problem:
Stand-alone viewers exist for MS Office files meaning that you don't have to have Office installed to view them. These viewers are freely available from Microsoft.
This means that we have to have "simple" lightweight viewers for OOo files to avoid people downloading a 60Mb installer when they just want to read a document.
Steve C. Thompson wrote:
Group,
I'm tired of people sending me Microsoft Office files. This is a threat to my freedom and my bank account: the sender is expecting me to use a secret format, controlled by a powerful corporation; and it is a very expensive product.
I propose that we stop accepting such files.
This might not be immediately practical, so how about an alternative solution: Open the file, save it into OOo's native format (SXI), then send it back to them. If they ask what is this, say: ``Oh, it is an open format ... You don't don't OpenOffice.org installed on your computer? ... Install it and you can view my attachment.'' Help them with the install if need be.
This might seams harsh, but it is exactly what they are doing to us by sending DOC/PPT/XLS etc. By sending them SXI, however, we are not threatening freedom nor personal bank accounts.
The tide is turning, we must all help make it happen. Get two friends to start using OOo.
(Apologies for the lecture, and I know that this isn't a new or novel idea, but I had to get it off my chest, and an OOo mailing groups seems like a suitable venue.)
Steve
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