but still not OOXML

Story: Microsoft to make Office open to ODF formatTotal Replies: 5
Author Content
gus3

May 21, 2008
11:35 PM EDT
http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?stor...

For having been propagandized, and used as monopolist's tool, ISO should come down on Microsoft like a ton (or tonne) of bricks.

Out of respect for LXer's TOS, I refrain from saying more in this posting.
Sander_Marechal

May 22, 2008
11:17 AM EDT
In even more wonderful news: The EU has announced to watch MS's implementation of ODF tomake sure it's interoperable with the existing ODF landscape.

I'll give you the link tomorrow. It's in my work e-mail account.
techiem2

May 22, 2008
11:49 AM EDT
Now that would be a laugh (and good ODF selling point) - "The MS Office ODF implementation conforms fully to the ISO standard but the MS Office OOXML implementation does not conform to the ISO standard".
Sander_Marechal

May 22, 2008
12:14 PM EDT
It's a laugh, but no joke. That's exactly what on schedule for now. I think MS is in quite a bit of trouble.

* The OOXML announcement is probably because implementing ISO OOXML in Office 2007 would break existing pre-ISO OOXML documents. Better break compatibility when changing versions.

* Implementing good ODF support is a major loss to the bottom line in the long run, but MS probably fears it has more to loose by not implementing it. I see almost weakly messages of countries or organisations mandating ODF for internal use and/or archiving and no mention of OOXML in those mandates. It looks like the word is out on OOXML's low quality despite it's ISO stamp. This seems to be especially for the far east which is the biggest growth market at the moment and probably the biggest markt in the future. MS cannot afford not to be able to sell Office there because it lacks ODF support.

* As mentioned in various posts and articles, MS's new lock-in strategy is Sharepoint, so it might feel more comfortable opening up Office. If they can force sharepoint on companies then the document format used doesn't matter anymore. One flaw in MS's thinking may be that home users don't use Sharepoint. When people get used to OpenOffice and KDE Office at home, they may not want to use MS-Office at work. And if the office folk don't use MS-Office you cannot lock them into sharepoint.
tracyanne

May 22, 2008
12:42 PM EDT
Quoting:MS's new lock-in strategy is Sharepoint.


Yes they've been moving in that direction for several years now.
Sander_Marechal

May 22, 2008
2:09 PM EDT
I forgot to add that since Sharepoint is the new lock-in, MS might feel more comfortable opening up Office. The rest of that point above is why this could be dangerous to Microsoft.

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