Microsoft to make Office open to ODF format

I'm amazed MS are doing this. It seems to me that it's a great way for Word users to realise that when they get ODF documents from people like us and they can open them, they will start to look at where the documents have come from, which will open their eyes to Open Office and other suites.

There must be a catch!

Yeah...but I guess we'll just have to wait and see what it is...incomplete support for reading and/or writing so they can claim odf is inferior to ooxml (never mind that o2k7 ooxml implementation doesn't conform to the approved standard...)? Big warnings about losing your data if you save in odf format that pop up every time you try to save to it and you can't turn them off? ???

Quoting:Big warnings about losing your data if you save in odf format that pop up every time you try to save to it and you can't turn them off?

You get big warnings about losing your data when you save to Microsoft formats from OO.o, so no one can complain about Microsoft doing the same.

I think the big thing to watch out for will be the 'added features' that will be available in Microsoft ODF but not in any other ODF.

You know Rock Ridge, J++, kerebos.

That kind of thing.

Quoting:You get big warnings about losing your data when you save to Microsoft formats from OO.o, so no one can complain about Microsoft doing the same.

True, but there's a "Do not show this warning again" checkbox right under the warning in OO.o.

I suspect MS wouldn't do that.

But will MS Office eventually SHIP with ODF compatibility?

Answering my own question, it appears that it will: http://government.zdnet.com/?p=3832

Then again, maybe it's another one of their vapourware announcements. You know where they announce all the wiz-bang features of their next version of Windows/Office/Etc that will debut in five years but have most of the stuff left out by the time they force the product out the door to met some sales/marketing deadlline even if the product isn't ready. (deja vista?)

Close your eyes children, this is not for the faint of heart...

Steve Ballmer is giving ODF users a big, sweaty embrace!

Ewwwww!

I don't want anyone to see what he is going to extend to them!

(get your minds out of the gutter)

hmm.

Maybe they'll extend the odf implementation in Office with special extra "features" that only work in Office and break the documents when opened in other ODF compliant apps....

Quoting:Steve Ballmer is giving ODF users a big, sweaty embrace!

... and now for just how long WILL the MS-Office-using sheep in the EU be promised to trust that Ballmer fox with the dubious ODF-loving grin?? hmm??

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.

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.

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".

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.

Quoting:MS's new lock-in strategy is Sharepoint.

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

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.