> When 1.6.x is started, I will propose an XML/ODF based solution. The
> basic idea is that we can store those latex-related files within the
> ODF file, and allow ooffice and word to open the ODF file with basic
> formating. No latex->doc conversion is required then.
Hmmm. I think that there are a lot of people using LyX because they
can store .lyx documents in a version control system. You are going
to upset many users, I fear.
I understand this, but the benefits of using an open format can easily
out-weight this. Also, there are proposals to subversion-devel to
treat ODF format in a special way since ODF is a ziped text/XML format
(except for stored figures).
IMHO, the biggest problems with lyx right now are sharing between lyx
users, and conversion between lyx and other formats. Right now, it is
quite tricky to send your lyx document to another lyx user because the
receiver will have to unpack your zip file, install .cls, .bst,
.layout and even reconfigure lyx! Embedding all such files within lyx
and handle them automatically is a must. Another problem is lyx/latex
to word/openoffice/html conversion. Because I have strong belief in an
open format that is indepdent of application, I recommended that we
adopt ODF, instead of inventing another lyx/XML format. Because ODF is
very flexible, it is possible to generate ODF files (with special
latex information) that can be opened directly by openoffice, koffice
and word.
Anyway, this might be too ambitious and it is not the time to discuss
this any further now. So I will stop.
Cheers,
Bo
