Donnerstag Juni 02, 2005
Using Tables in Writer
"However, if your needs are simple or you're one of the many for whom spreadsheets seem too overwhelming to consider, Writer tables may be all you need. Unlike importing a spreadsheet, using table formulas doesn't require maintaining two separate documents. And, with a little patience and a template, they are another useful tool for automating your work."
The full article can be found here.
( Jun 02 2005, 02:08:56 PM CEST )
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Microsoft doing PR work for OpenOffice.org
Interesting to see a Microsoft employee being a spokesperson for OpenOffice.org:
"Using XML and Zip is not a unique approach, however, given that open-source Office competitor OpenOffice (sponsored by Sun) has been using an XML-based file format and Zip compression to store files. The OpenOffice XML file format specification is maintained by an OASIS technical committee. According to a Microsoft spokesperson, Openoffice.org has royalty-free access to the specs for the Office Open XML formats to ensure file compatibility. The current XML filter tool in OpenOffice supports the Microsoft Office 2003 XML file formats, although not always with full fidelity."
( Jun 02 2005, 09:13:40 AM CEST )
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"Microsoft Opens Office File Formats"
I just found this:
"When questioned about why Microsoft did not use the OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) OpenOffice.org XML file format Paoli answered, "Sun standardized their own. We could have used a format from others and shoehorned in functionality, but our design needs to be different because we have 400 million legacy users. Moving 400 million users to XML is a complex problem.""
Microsoft seems to ignore that the OASIS OpenDocument format was designed to be vendor and implementation agnostic. Just read the following quote from a KOffice developer:
"But I definitely think the OpenOffice.org file format was a very good basis for the OASIS format, since it was designed, from the start, as a file format that should be as independent as possible from the design of the application. It reuses standards like XSL/FO, CSS, HTML etc. as much as possible, so the goal is to make the OASIS format another one of those formats, where the application used to edit the document doesn't matter."
"The Microsoft Office Open XML Formats are backwards compatible to Office 2000 and those versions of Office that are supported will be issued updates to read the new formats. Gartner estimates that only 1.6% of customers in the United States will be using versions of Office that predate Office 2000 by the end of 2005 with even less in Europe."
Just look at the OpenOffice.org statistics to see where the OASIS OpenDocument market share is going!
( Jun 02 2005, 08:57:25 AM CEST )
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OASIS OpenDocument format in Microsoft Office 12?
I just read this blog entry and this press release. Is Microsoft using the OASIS OpenDocument format in Microsoft Office 12?
If you look at the list of features in Brian Jones' blog entry (Open Format, Compressed, Robust) it really sounds like they are using the OASIS file format. Just read our old white paper about the OpenOffice.org file format on which the new OASIS OpenDocument standard is based. You will find a lot of similarities between what Microsoft is doing and what the OpenOffice.org file format has been doing since the release of OpenOffice.org 1.0 in May 2002.
I'm pretty sure Microsoft is not supporting the OASIS OpenDocument standard, but their approach validates that we did the right things when Sun together with the open source community and later the OASIS TC designed the OpenOffice.org/OASIS OpenDocument XML file format. Microsoft's reaction also shows that OpenOffice.org, the OASIS standardization and the EU recommendation is having some effect on them.
I think with their latest move, Microsoft showed their ability to support an XML file format that seems to be extremely close to the OpenDocument format. Now it's time to encourage them to do the real thing, i.e. support the OASIS OpenDocument standard instead of just doing it the Microsoft way.
Finally, here is a quote from a Reuters article:
"Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft, as well as other major software companies, have been building XML capabilities into their products over the last few years. OpenOffice, a free software suite with document, spreadsheet and presentation programs, as well as StarOffice, an $80 version developed by Sun Microsystems Inc., both are XML-based as well.
Microsoft's current Office version retails for between $150 and $400, depending upon the edition. Betsy Frost, Microsoft's a senior marketing director in the Microsoft business group that includes Office, said that the XML capabilities will mainly benefit companies and corporate workers who need to tap into a variety of different databases."
And here is Tim Bray's comment.
( Jun 02 2005, 07:46:47 AM CEST )
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