Format Comparison Between ODF and MS XML (Groklaw) [LWN.net]

Format Comparison Between ODF and MS XML (Groklaw)

Posted Nov 28, 2005 16:25 UTC (Mon) by MathFox (guest, #6104)
In reply to: Format Comparison Between ODF and MS XML (Groklaw) by drag
Parent article: Format Comparison Between ODF and MS XML (Groklaw)

Computer typography (Nowadays document processors are actually typesetting programs) is well studied and well understood. One essentially has "text" and typesetting instructions (font use, paragraph/page breaks, reserve space for illustrations, etc.). A computer program then lays out the text on the pages according to the typographic instructions. There haven't been fundamental changes since the early 1980s.
To portably transfer documents between different computers you only need to come to an agreement on how to represent the typesetting instructions and how to add them to the text. SGML and XML offer nice frameworks for creating a vendor independent interchange format. Archivists love to have well documented formats for the documents they archive.
It apparently even is possible to find a group of software vendors that agree that the interchange format "OpenDocument" is good enough to use as _native_ document format. It is a sure sign that office document processing has become mature.

The biggest question I have is why Microsoft refuses to support the OpenDocument format, even with just import and export filters.

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Format Comparison Between ODF and MS XML (Groklaw)

Posted Nov 28, 2005 22:36 UTC (Mon) by mikec (guest, #30884) [Link]

> The biggest question I have is why Microsoft refuses to support the OpenDocument format, even with just import and export filters.

Very simple, MS is quite aware of the begrudging upgrade cycle they have repeatedly introduced...

That is, you stick with the version that you have and works until you start having trouble opening and exporting to other people (or it stops working on the OS you get without any choice on the next batch of desktops you buy).

They know they sell crap - Gates has said it himself (para - "we did not set out to build the _best_ operating system, we set out to create a cost-efective solution......"

So, when you sell crap, you have to provide some other incentive to purchase... aggrivation appears to be the weopon of choice...

They know that there are an awful lot of people who hate their products but use them anyway because they have to... If they interoperate too well, even with prior versions of their own software, noone uses theirs or upgrades.

Format Comparison Between ODF and MS XML (Groklaw)

Posted Nov 29, 2005 2:39 UTC (Tue) by Baylink (subscriber, #755) [Link]

> (Nowadays document processors are actually typesetting programs)

Good.

I can still make a living.

:-)