Ready to be published? LXer is read by around 350,000 individuals each month, and is an excellent place for you to publish your ideas, thoughts, reviews, complaints, etc. Do you have something to say to the Linux community?
Tucked in with the many security updates (and the restoration of one’s ability to paste text from a web page into a Word document!), a very interesting modification to the Office 2003 software waits quietly for installation with Service Pack 3. Unbeknownst to the user installing this “Pack 3,” their Office software is about to be imbued with a runaway power: the cutoff of access to your old documents. The vendor-neutral quality makes ODF a superior format for document retention.
A more secure future, given the growing importance of digital files for both individuals and governments, would be based on a long-life document format. A long-life document format is one whose underlying structure is resistant to changes in the tools used to produce them, the systems upon which they run, and the changing priorities of vendors in the marketplace. The OpenDocument Format (ODF), an ISO standard, employs this type of design. Additionally, as ODF is supported by several vendors, platforms, and implementations, no user of ODF documents is at the mercy of any particular vendor.
Lovely isn't it?
Due to the "security risks" of opening old files, they're gonna block you from opening them unless you hack the registry.
This has been known about for some weeks now.
Of course, we all know it's not really about "security risks" (files don't generally have risks...it's the program and what it does with the content of the file that has the risks - i.e. the program has to open the file and EXECUTE that macro for it to nuke you...), it's all about pushing people to upgrade office and lock out competition.
That's so plain stupid of them. Ok; let them commit suicide if they want. I suggested dropping proprietary file formats on my page, and not for the first time.
ODF is superior in my opinion, and I have been using it for a long time myself.
Post a comment
A free account is needed to post. Write your comment here first: your text is kept in this browser while you sign up or log in, and is waiting for you when you come back.
Your message:
|||||
10
Markdown: **bold**, *italic*, [text](https://link), - lists, > quotes, $x^2$ for math. Formatting help
