[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
DOC files can be made on any - Yes *ANY* word processing program writen within the last 10 years. You don't have to buy or download anything special to get it. Use any, yes *ANY* word processor in the world, and you too can make a DOC file. It can be open source. It can be on Linux, Unix, BSD, OS X, OS 9, DOS, Windows, Palm.... the list goes on.What the OP is getting at is the ASSUMPTION that the MS formats are the "standard". The fact is that in a lot of areas, MS has taken internationally agreed standards and used it's market domination to break them.
A lot of people and institutions do impose .doc and other formats on people by saying "we will only accept them in this format."
I think that it IS just as reasonable for OO users to say we will only
use the OOo format. Whether that is practical is another issue.
On the other hand, try to make a SXI file *WITHOUT* OOo or StarOffice or AbiWord. Go ahead. Try it. Try to make one on DOS. Try to make one on Mac OS 9. It *cannot* be done. Not without a degree in programming.
People whine and cry about "vendor lock-in". Microsoft's Word document is one of the worst examples. If that's their plan, they have failed, miserably. Because every program in the world can use it. You'd never have to touch a single line of MS code to use a Word Doc file. Not Windows, Not Word, not even Works.
OOo's file format, however, is one of the least used formats in the world. I don't care what international group of whoever called it a "Standard", if it only works on 3 programs, it's ain't a standard.
When sharing files I only ever use rtf or pdf as the format. I don't
know how you would go with presentation files though.
Flash would work - or PPT. Everyone can use a Powerpoint file.
I've also encouraged people to install OOo as a free alternative to the MS product.
That's fine. But the only reason OOo has any value at all as a office suite is because it supports the internationally accepted, universal, multi-platform, every office suite in the world formats of DOC, PPT, and XLS... If it wasn't "Microsoft compatible" nobody could use it.
-Chad Smith
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