On 30/01/14 21:21, Barry Drake wrote:
Microsoft has been forced into supporting ODF and is clearly very
annoyed by this. A little humility and listening to ordinary folk
might have gone a long way.
Humility seems to be in short supply in Redmond; here is a quote about
ODF standards from a moderator on an official MS support site:-
.odt is the old open standard file format that was used before the
current Office Open XML standard was implemented. Microsoft began
adopting the standard in 2003, but in Office 2007 and Office 2008
adopted the Office Open XML file format as the default format.
Ironically, most forks of OpenOffice do not support the current Office
Open XML standard format. They cling to the decades old standard and
refuse to abandon it. However, there is one fork of OpenOffice
that*does*support the current standard. It is called_*LibreOffice*_
<http://www.libreoffice.org/download>. LibreOffice is the only fork of
OpenOffice that should be used. Have the person who sent that ancient
file to you update to the current version of LibreOffice so they can
make files in standard format. In LibreOffice preferences there is a
setting that tells LibreOffice to use the Office Open XML file format as
the default. This setting should be enabled.
Once your correspondent joins the 21st century and gets rid of their
ancient software, he or she will be able to share files with the _*rest
of the world*_
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Open_XML_software#Word_processors>.
Wikipedia misleadingly labels the Office Open XML format a "Microsoft
format." The format is an international standard proposed by Microsoft
and then adopted by a standards body representing many interests
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mac/forum/macoffice2008-macword/can-word-open-a-odt-file/0b76ee36-a236-4a45-ace4-b145a5b2026f
This is clearly the latest form of FUD for the fight against open
source. The moderator repeatedly talks of OOXML "replacing" ODF as the
international standard. Thankfully someone at the Cabinet Office has
seen through this.
There is also the point that trying to open an ODT file in MS Office
prompts a message suggesting that file may be corrupt or contain
unreadable elements. This cleverly plants the idea in the MS user's mind
that ODF files are in some way dodgy or of dubious quality. This is
clever, but dirty, marketing tactics. MS are in business to make
profits, not to encourage, or co-operate with, the opposition. They are
not going to give up without a fight.
Regards,
Barry T
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