[ale] OT: I mean way OT like DocX OT

[Robert Reese]

Hello Dow_Hurst,

Wednesday, July 15, 2009, 12:42:18 AM, you wrote:

> I installed MSOffice 2007 for the first time today in a virtual
> machine.  While looking thru the options for the package, I noticed
> that you can have the default save format set to MSOffice 2003 or
> other formats, but not ODF.

Microsoft's new implementation of ODF is *intentionally* incompatible with OOo and any other implementation.  Microsoft broke ODF in Office 2007 to be able to claim ODF compliance with governments and advertising and simultaneously use FUD to prevent Office users from even wanting to try out OOo.

http://www.odfalliance.org/blog/index.php/site/microsofts_odf_support_falls_short/
<http://www.odfalliance.org/blog/index.php/site/microsofts_odf_support_falls_short/>


>  Anyway, I'm going to suggest that
> anyone who admins MSOffice 2007 to, on install, set the default save
> format to the good old 2003 .doc format.  That is usable by
> OpenOffice and would be the overall best workaround for those using
> WinXP and Office.
 
I disagree; IMO .rtf is a better choice as it is more widely supported and formatting has been more accurate than .doc.

 
>  I think the ooxml fiasco is about the worst mess
> Microsoft could make of open formats, which par for their sense of ethics, or lack of.

It will eventually come around and bite them from behind. I'd love to see Apple *officially* adopt OOo on the Mac and then turn around and start advertising the crap out of OOo.

Not only would that force MS to fix their ODF implementation but also highly legitimize OpenOffice.org in the eyes of the public.

Cheers,
Robert~