odf as a format

Posted Dec 2, 2005 20:43 UTC (Fri) by pimlott (guest, #1535) [Link]

Let me get this straight: You conclude which is a better spreadsheet format, from a comparison which, you acknowledge, doesn't address spreadsheet requirements, but rather focuses on superficial matters such as stylistic conventions and affinity to other standards? And you poo-poo the statements of actual developers of office software? That makes no sense.

Both MS Office and OpenOffice are gigantic, hyper-featureful systems with over a decade of history. It's hardly surprising that their document formats, even newer XML-based formats, reflect their labyrinthine internal structures. It's going to take some hard study to determine which is a better "open" office format, or whether neither is really suitable.

Why is it that as soon as XML enters the picture, complex and difficult issues of representation and semantics suddently evaporate, and all we have to argue about is whether or not they used mixed-content?