03.04.08

Gemini version available ♊︎

The Perfect Time for Microsoft to Drop OOXML

Posted in ECMA, Formats, ISO, Microsoft, Office Suites, Open XML, OpenDocument, Standard at 12:35 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Documentation for Microsoft legacy formats is out there, ODF is the one universal ISO standard

Steve Ballmer on ODFEarlier on today, a reader rightly pointed out that Microsoft ought to support ODF at this stage. Yes, now more than ever before. The matter of fact is that Microsoft may already be doing this, but if any of the BRM attendants finds out, it will have a terrible effect. It can demolish OOXML, at least as a standard, as opposed to some arbitrary format du jour from Office 2007.

Bob Sutor makes an interesting new argument. Microsoft claims to have opened up its legacy formats (never mind the endless licensing traps it contains). It did so in order to harbour OOXML and defend its chances at the BRM.

Now that the BRM has fallen apart, the whole thing can be used against Microsoft and render OOXML utterly obsolete.

These formats being available now rather removes the “OOXML as documentation of Microsoft legacy formats” argument for the need for OOXML. Of course, they could have been made widely available before, but weren’t, for some reason.

I utterly reject the need for OOXML as a standard because it is a description of the Microsoft Office 2007 formats. OOXML was released from ECMA within a month or so of Office 2007, so claiming any sort of “legacy” for Office 2007 is ridiculous.

Microsoft ought to simply embrace the international standard (ODF) and rely on availability of documentation covering legacy formats, for those wishing to convert old documents to ODF. It’s very simple really. No need for multiple competing formats, either. █

Related articles:

Share in other sites/networks: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • Reddit
  • email

Decor ᶃ Gemini Space

Below is a Web proxy. We recommend getting a Gemini client/browser.

Black/white/grey bullet button This post is also available in Gemini over at this address (requires a Gemini client/browser to open).

Decor ✐ Cross-references

Black/white/grey bullet button Pages that cross-reference this one, if any exist, are listed below or will be listed below over time.

Decor ▢ Respond and Discuss

Black/white/grey bullet button If you liked this post, consider subscribing to the RSS feed or join us now at the IRC channels.

DecorWhat Else is New

  1. Links 01/06/2023: KStars 3.6.5 and VEGA ET1031 RISC-V Microprocessor in Use

    Links for the day

  2. Gemini Links 01/06/2023: Scam Call and Flying High With Gemini

    Links for the day

  3. Links 01/06/2023: Spleen 2.0.0 Released and Team UPC Celebrates Its Own Corruption

    Links for the day

  4. IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, May 31, 2023

    IRC logs for Wednesday, May 31, 2023

  5. Tux Machines Closing the Door on Twitter Because Twitter is Dead (for a Lot of People)

    Tux Machines recently joined millions of others who had already quit Twitter, including passive posting (fully or partly automated)

  6. Links 31/05/2023: Inkscape’s 1.3 Plans and New ARM Cortex-A55-Based Linux Chip

    Links for the day

  7. Gemini Links 31/05/2023: Personality of Software Engineers

    Links for the day

  8. Links 31/05/2023: Armbian 23.05 Release and Illegal UPC

    Links for the day

  9. IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, May 30, 2023

    IRC logs for Tuesday, May 30, 2023

  10. Gemini Protocol About to Turn 4 and It's Still Growing

    In the month of May we had zero downtime (no updates to the system or outages in the network), which means Lupa did not detect any errors such as timeouts and we’re on top of the list (the page was fixed a day or so after we wrote about it); Gemini continues to grow (chart by Botond) as we’re approaching the 4th anniversary of the protocol

  11. Links 31/05/2023: Librem Server v2, curl 8.1.2, and Kali Linux 2023.2 Release

    Links for the day

  12. Gemini Links 31/05/2023: Bayes Filter and Programming Wordle

    Links for the day

  13. [Meme] Makes No Sense for EPO (Now Connected to the EU) and Staff Pensions to be Tied to the UK After Brexit

    It seems like EPO staff is starting to have doubts about the safety of EPO pensions after Benoît Battistelli sent money to reckless gambling (EPOTIF) — a plot that’s 100% supported by António Campinos and his enablers in the Council, not to mention the European Union

  14. Working Conditions at EPO Deteriorate and Staff Inquires About Pension Rights

    Work is becoming a lot worse (not even compliant with the law!) and promises are constantly being broken, so staff is starting to chase management for answers and assurances pertaining to finances

  15. Links 30/05/2023: Orc 0.4.34 and Another Rust Crisis

    Links for the day

  16. Links 30/05/2023: Nitrux 2.8.1 and HypoPG 1.4.0

    Links for the day

  17. Gemini Links 30/05/2023: Bubble Version 3.0

    Links for the day

  18. Links 30/05/2023: LibreOffice 7.6 in Review and More Digital Restrictions (DRM) From HP

    Links for the day

  19. Gemini Links 30/05/2023: Curl Still Missing the Point?

    Links for the day

  20. IRC Proceedings: Monday, May 29, 2023

    IRC logs for Monday, May 29, 2023

  21. MS (Mark Shuttleworth) as a Microsoft Salesperson

    Canonical isn’t working for GNU/Linux or for Ubuntu; it’s working for “business partners” (WSL was all along about promoting Windows)

  22. First Speaker in Event for GNU at 40 Called for Resignation/Removal of GNU's Founder

    It’s good that the FSF prepares an event to celebrate GNU’s 40th anniversary, but readers told us that the speakers list is unsavoury, especially the first one (a key participant in the relentless campaign of defamation against the person who started both GNU and the FSF; the "FSFE" isn't even permitted to use that name)

  23. When Jokes Became 'Rude' (or Disingenuously Misinterpreted by the 'Cancel Mob')

    A new and more detailed explanation of what the wordplay around "pleasure card" actually meant

  24. Site Updates and Plans Ahead

    A quick look at or a roundup of what we've been up to, what we plan to publish in the future, what topics we shall focus on very soon, and progress moving to Alpine Linux

  25. Links 29/05/2023: Snap and PipeWire Plans as Vendor Lock-in

    Links for the day

  26. Gemini Links 29/05/2023: GNU/Linux Pains and More

    Links for the day

  27. Links 29/05/2023: Election in Fedora, Unifont 15.0.04

    Links for the day

  28. Gemini Links 29/05/2023: Rosy Crow 1.1.1 and Smolver 1.2.1 Released

    Links for the day

  29. IRC Proceedings: Sunday, May 28, 2023

    IRC logs for Sunday, May 28, 2023

  30. Daniel Stenberg Knows Almost Nothing About Gemini and He's Likely Just Protecting His Turf (HTTP/S)

    The man behind Curl, Daniel Stenberg, criticises Gemini; but it's not clear if he even bothered trying it (except very briefly) or just read some inaccurate, one-sided blurbs about it

RSS 64x64RSS Feed: subscribe to the RSS feed for regular updates

Home iconSite Wiki: You can improve this site by helping the extension of the site's content

Home iconSite Home: Background about the site and some key features in the front page

Chat iconIRC Channel: Come and chat with us in real time

Recent Posts