08.16.10
Microsoft is Chucking Apple After Using Apple to Promote OOXML
Summary: The defective format (OOXML) which was derived from Microsoft Office is now being used by Microsoft to slam Apple’s products, after Apple helped OOXML
FOR at least a couple of years we covered very closely the corrupt ways in which Microsoft sought to label OOXML a “standard”. IBM’s Rob Weir was among the key characters fighting against this abuse.
“Ironically,” says Weir today, “when pushing for OOXML approval MS touted Apple software as proving that OOXML was not tied to Windows.” Watch this article which says that “Microsoft’s new Mac vs. PC site pretends Mac Office doesn’t exist” and quotes:
“If you use Apple’s productivity suite, sharing files with PC users can be tricky,” the site says. “Your documents might not look right and your spreadsheets might not calculate correctly.”
Red Hat’s Jan Wildeboer responds to Weir by saying/recycling the same thing and the FFII says: “Your source does not refer to #ooxml or a specific format but mentions inter-plattform interoperability / rendering challenges” (we covered this before, it's true).
Weir rectifies this by saying that the “[h]istory is that Microsoft used Apple as poster boy in their OOXML interop demos, but now they are dropping them in the river.” We wrote about this too and gnufreex says that “Mac might spoil your fun” but “Microsoft will spoil your fun for sure.” (this is said in reference to Microsoft’s claim that “Macs might spoil your fun”). █
twitter said,
August 16, 2010 at 10:40 pm
It’s funny that the makers of Excel can say that anyone else’s spreadsheet might not work right. Excel is famous for math errors. People are better off with Gnumeric or OO Calc which provide all of the same functions without error.
Equally funny is that the makers of Word would try to slam anyone else’s formatting. Word’s formatting is one of the worst, when it works right. Word is famous for not working with itself due to changes in fonts, even printers used. When those things do actually work, Word’s typography is horrible – slightly better than what you might get from a typewriter. Most people are better off with OO Writer and professionals should use LaTex or some other real publishing software.
One thing that shines through all of this is that real choice comes from real standards and free software. Open Office brings ODF to Windows, Mac and GNU/Linux. ODF is implemented by Google Docs, KOffice and many other programs from independent projects. OOXML won’t work on your expensive Mac, Microsoft designed it that way at the cost of it not working well anywhere.