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This is an editorial about file conversions. It starts with a story about Free Software Magazine and our struggle with article formats, and continues explaining why the world needs to get rid of Office Open XML, which could create more problems than the Microsoft monopoly itself. What I experienced with Free Software Magazine while converting (which, admittedly, wasn’t really that big a deal) would be nothing compared to what the whole world will have to deal with if OOXML became “the” file format “normally” used to exchange office documents.
Microsoft vomiting their proprietary standard down onto government agencies and helpless consumers via armtwisting, cajoling, slick PR, politicking, or whatever other "persuasive" enticements still going on on high.
As per Mobily's exact words
Quoting:Microsoft trying to shove OOXML down ISO’s throat (and effectively damaging, maybe beyond repair, the image of what should be an independent body) can damage the computer industry immensly. The fact that both ODF and Office Open XML are XML means absolutely nothing. You can see here a technical comparison between the two: converting one format to the other is anything but fun. Thousands of bogus documentation pages that come with OOXML don’t help.
Reminds a person of the prevalent bargain/cheapo pieces of PC hardware continually manufactured in China or other parts of East Asia. Microsoft's NDAs strictly adhered to (specifically by such HW manufacturers!) on such devices as winmodems (remember these?), high-end display cards, laptop wireless cards, ... etc. Poor or non-existent drivers support&documentation for Linux. Why? Must be the short-term bottom line.
Such HW companies just end up losing business over the long-term w/o Open Source drivers; witness the ongoing issue w/ "non-open" binary drivers for F/OSS advocates.
The adage when shopping for HW devices for a PC has routinely been
"If it works in Linux, then certainly it'll work in Windows. Not necessarily the reverse."
Same adage REALLY(!) ought to be promoted for ODF over OOXML, namely,
" If you can create and edit your document in ODF, then certainly you can certainly edit these in OOXML. Not necessarily the reverse. "
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The adage when shopping for HW devices for a PC has routinely been "If it works in Linux, then certainly it'll work in Windows. Not necessarily the reverse."
Same adage REALLY(!) ought to be promoted for ODF over OOXML, namely, " If you can create and edit your document in ODF, then certainly you can certainly edit these in OOXML. Not necessarily the reverse. "