web at work wrote:
Robin Laing wrote:
Ganesha Bhaskara wrote:
Folks,
If you are using Office 2007 and saving documents in .docx format,
please be warned that Office 2007 is not OOXML standard compliant.
More info here :
http://www.news.com/Office-2007-fails-OOXML-conformance-test/2100-7344_3-6237855.html
You would be better off saving in ODF or .doc (if you MUST .... I
have to :-( ) for now until OOXML stablilizes.
-G
The failures are important to know in order to really understand the
problem. Are there some simple errors that are creating many
additional warnings later in the document? Who knows from the article.
It is also important to know that the "Transitional" parsing doesn't
produce the same number of errors.
If I was writing a contract and specifying the standard, I would
state that it has to follow the "strict" standard. Of course there
are issues with OOo support of ODF when this comes into play.
http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=64237
Lets be careful on how this is pushed. OpenOffice.org could be the
next one with the headline about not meeting the standards.
---c/p---
In future, Brown hopes to repeat the test to see if the open-source
alternative to Microsoft Office, OpenOffice, conforms with the Open
Source Initiative (OSI) version of the OpenDocument Format (ODF)
document standard: ISO/IEC 26300.
---/c/p/---
I would like to see OOXML die a painful death but I want ODF to be
accepted for being better, not just first. So before the supporters
for OOo start shouting from the mountain tops that OOXML fails the
standards, lets get our own house in order to supporting the ODF
standard, then we can shout even louder. :)
Meeting the standards should be a very high priority.
--
Robin Laing
My real trouble is how MS got its proposed standard to be an
ISO.
Also MS was the only suite/ etc. software that supported the
.docx, etc OOXML formats when it pushed the format to become
the standard, when ODF was being used by many packages
before it was voted on for ISO standardization.
If ONE company or organization uses the document formats,
then "shouts to the world" that they are the standard that
the world needs to conform to, that is one thing. If another
set of formats are being used by MANY BEFORE the formats
are sent to the ISO. Then the ISO votes to have it a standard.
Then there is not a "shout" but a movement to get more people and
companies to use this ISO standard. That is different.
That is the real difference to me. ODF was used and supported
by many before it was sent to the ISO people, but OOXML
was only supported by MS and they only allowed people to
view the format documentation after it was sent to the ISO
people.
ODF is totally open source, OOXML was/is not.
I know of may products that fully support ODF
but only MS fully supports OOXML.
600 pages of documentation for ODF,
6,000 pages for OOXML.
Who ever is the winner in the battle for top ISO file formats
will have to do it all over again in a few years when the next
set of formats are developed.
Also here is another way to look at it.
OpenOffice.org's open source vounteers are working "overtime"
to make sure that all of the major file formats be readable in
its future versions of its product. Hopefully version 3.0
there will be a working usability to read the MS OOXML
formats. While MS has made it a policy not to support the
ODF based ISO stardard that has been out for several years.
OpenOffice.org wants to support all the ISO standards as
they come into being, or even before they do. MS will not.
I have choosen Openoffice.org and ODF for those reasons.
With OOo, I will be able to read (or soon will) the major
file formats out there. I will be using a much easier to use
product, above Office 2003 and 2007 (both I have used before).
Plus I get the best (and free) support system I have ever used for a
software product. Try getting any free product support
from MS.
Sure MS Office has more function. But every person that I
have personally talked to never uses the "hard core" power
user options that seems to be what the higher percentage
of the features in MS Office. I lost count of the feature count
when the upgraded MS Office 97 to the next level bosting over
250 new features added to Word alone. How many are in Word
2007 currently? Last time I ran Word 2007, on a 2 gig processor
and over a gig ram, I could not run any other program while I ran
Word 2007 without major wait time with either product. Also
Word 2007 - ALONE - with an simple document took over 90% of
my 1+ gig of ram. When I use OpenOffice.org 2.4, I can run several
programs - usually 4 or 5 going at the same time - without having the
same slowdown of usage and never have the same RAM glut as
Word 2003 or 2007 does.
Everyone has their own opinions.
Everyone sees the same facts and have their own take on what
they actually mean.
So. It is up to the user to decide. That is where it counts in the end.
It is not as simple ....... here is the reason (from one of my previous
emails)
The ubiquity of MS office products has created a "network effect" which
is extremely had to break. Moving from .doc to .docx is a simple drop-in
upgrade for Microsoft. I am FORCED to use MS word because a majority of
the people I send/receive documents to/from use MS Office. Being
compatible with this majority is a necessity for me. Further, there is
little good reason for others to switch from MS word to OpenOffice as
the ROI for such a switch is some pain WITHOUT significant immediate
gains. Unless Openoffice and ODF provides a value proposition that
exceeds the net value proposition of MS Office and its network of users,
I believe ODF and Openoffice will find it hard to make a dent in the
Office space. One can't tear down a monopoly by simply being better at
the same game.
However, the following things make me feel more optimistic.
1) Govts. waking up to long term digital data storage problem associated
with proprietary solutions
2) OO supporting plugins ..... OO can move to a new space that MS does
not have a foot hold.
3) Uncertainty about of hidden balance sheet liability to third parties
who choose to implement OOXML
-G
Which file formats do you want to use?
Which office suite do you want to use?
Who has the better free support system?
How much do you want to pay for your office package?
I choose OpenOffice.org and ODF formats. I choose the Open Source
system of software development.
but that is my opinions, what are yours
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