01.23.08
KOffice and OpenOffice.org Working on OpenDocument Interoperability
Reality strikes Microsoft apologists
Critics of ODF, most of whom are paid in one way or another by Microsoft, will not be happy to see this, but their FUD regarding interoperability issues in ODF is running thin.
Alexander from OpenOffice talked about some of the possibilities of OpenDocument including dedicated C libraries to process the format which could be shared between apps. KOffice developers discussed plans for an OpenDocument API in kdelibs to make use of the format available throughout KDE.
As the above shows, the open nature of the development conveniently facilitates sharing in a graft-and-drop-like fashion. All it takes is proper communication between development teams. You can never achieve this with the Microsoft™ Office™ Dynamic Format, aka OOXML (it changes all the time).
In other related news, here is a new article which talks about the fight of just one company against everybody else. It ought to be apparent by now that merely everyone that supports OOXML is either paid by Microsoft it or is already a partner. One could argue that the only backers of OOXML are the “Microsoft ecosystem”, which can sometimes look like a crowd.
Blogger Karl – whose cash cow slaughter comments are quoted above – is far from unique in this conflict, which pits Microsoft against IBM, Sun, Google, China and the entire open source community, to name a few, over the future of Office Open eXtensible Markup Language (OOXML), the core of Office 2007, as a viable procurement option for governments and companies committed to buying “standards compliant” software.
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Earlier this month, Mr Brown reported that there would be 40 national bodies represented at the BRM (including New Zealand), of which 27 voted against (or abstained from voting on) the fast-tracking of OOXML in September.
Unsurprisingly, the article quotes mouthpieces like the Burton Group to add balance, but we know too well by now what motivates the Burton Group. Several articles from the past year (e.g. from The Inquirer) have already revealed to the public how Microsoft operates. It typically uses its PR agents to prod journalists whenever a big product like Windows Vista comes out. The same goes for OOXML at the moment. Biased studies are being pushed by pushy PR agencies — everything for further exposure in the press. You might wish to be reminded that Microsoft commissioned and sponsors a similar OOXML/ODF study from IDC. It’s just one among several that can truly make you vomit.
Here is some further coverage from NetworkWorld.
OOXML, called DIS 29500 at ISO, went down to preliminary defeat during a Sept. 2 vote among ISO members. In the second phase of the process — the February BRM — Microsoft and ECMA have the opportunity to respond to specific questions from the ISO’s voting members regarding the 6,000-page OOXML specification.
It sometimes seems like the journalists are being poisoned by sources whom they think are impartial, indifferent and representative of the general population’s benefit. █
“We’re disheartened because Microsoft helped W3C develop the very standards that they’ve failed to implement in their browser. We’re also dismayed to see Microsoft continue adding proprietary extensions to these standards when support for the essentials remains unfinished.”
–George Olsen, Web Standards Project
