Comments on: Microsoft’s ODF ‘Support’ is a Scam

By: David Gerard

David Gerard — Tue, 05 May 2009 20:55:09 +0000

The author’s email address (the contact link at bottom) is @openoffice.org, so it’s an at least semi-official tips blog, yes.

By: Roy Schestowitz

Roy Schestowitz — Tue, 05 May 2009 13:37:26 +0000

Huh, OOOninja think anything’s better than nothing?

isn’t OOOninja tied to Sun somehow? I’d assume he has to be civil.

By: David Gerard

David Gerard — Tue, 05 May 2009 13:05:01 +0000

Huh, OOOninja think anything’s better than nothing? Despite Microsoft’s best efforts to make it worse than nothing. We’ll see. Although they cleverly kept to the letter of the spec while maintaining a perfect lack of interoperability, I can’t see the promises in that press release from 2008 not coming back to bite them.

By: Roy Schestowitz

Roy Schestowitz — Tue, 05 May 2009 10:57:13 +0000

Here is another new take:

Microsoft has opened the ODF door and will be pressured on better interoperability, so even my inner cynic has a hard time imagining interoperability will not improve. With Office 2007 SP2 and Wordpad in Windows 7 supporting ODF, the future looks bright for OpenDocument Format. Has Microsoft turned a new leaf? Microsoft’s recent investments in ODF, PDF, and web standards (in Internet Explorer are probably more a function of government regulation or business demand than corporate goodwill.

By: Roy Schestowitz

Roy Schestowitz — Tue, 05 May 2009 07:32:26 +0000

It’s RTF all over again.

By: twitter

twitter — Tue, 05 May 2009 04:50:25 +0000

In the end, it's not ODF that's broken it's Word and ignoring ODF is a critical mistake. People already hate Office 2007 and love Google Docs. People with Open Office can work with the DOC version people who use M$ Office also work with. Guess which word processor works with netbooks, the only kind of computer selling these days? The usual networking tricks are not working in M$'s favor this time. Instead of shelling out hundreds of dollars for a word processor, people are going to simply send docx to the trash. There are simply too many better and easier way to publish and collaborate than a clunky old desktop with expensive and buggy software. M$ is stuck in the 90s but the world has moved on. The more M$ breaks word, the faster people will leave it.

By: notzed

notzed — Tue, 05 May 2009 02:39:05 +0000

Really, as if m$ are going to spend any time and effort undercutting the one thing that makes them money – owning the file formats.

Already a comment on Weir’s post suggests the ‘open source’ crowd could whip-up an importer that works around m$’s shitty exporter issues. If they do that, then all that they’ve worked for will be for nothing – just the crap with the web all over again, and another useless format which nobody can use reliably.

By: Roy Schestowitz

Roy Schestowitz — Tue, 05 May 2009 01:13:04 +0000

"If you can’t make it good, at least make it look good."

--Bill Gates, Microsoft

By: David Gerard

David Gerard — Tue, 05 May 2009 00:55:26 +0000

Better than that: read this Microsoft press release. They promise *practical* interoperability. Before giving that fabulous line of red in Rob's second table.