FUD, Formats, Applications
Today we are announcing the creation of the Open XML Translator project that will help translate between the Office Open XML formats and the OpenDocument format… [Y]ou’ll have the ability to save to and open ODF files directly within Office (just like any other format).
An enthusiastic Dare Obasanjo (MS):
It’ll be good to see the debate migrate away from support for file formats back to exactly which product’s features provides the best value for customers. Everybody wins.
An unimpressed Bob Sutor (IBM), complaining about anti-ODF FUD in the press release:
One of the arguments around ODF from the beginning was around the long term preservation of customer information. This is one of the reasons why ODF was created. It is still an important reason why momentum around it continues.
In contrast, ODF focuses on more limited requirements, is architected very differently and is now under review in OASIS subcommittees to fill key gaps such as spreadsheet formulas, macro support and support for accessibility options.All right, all right, ODF is under active development by a worldwide community of experts not under the control of a single vendor who are making it state of the art in such areas as accessibility! We admit it!
Me? I actually see both sides of this. On one hand, being a part of the ODF TC is an interesting experience, as I see engineers and domain experts from different areas come together to solve important problem by consensus. While IBM and Sun, for example, have a big presence on the TC, whenever I have raised questions, people have always respectively addressed them, and the discussion has improved the end result.
I should also note that at least some of the accessibility “gaps” the MS press release cites are shared by OXML! We now have a crack team of experts on the task, and the result will be that ODF will shortly include accessibility support that is superior to OXML. Ditto for metadata.
On the other hand, there’s no denying that Office 2007 will offer some important improvements, particularly for higher education and research, and that the ODF application market has a ways to go to realize the potential of the open format. The current OpenOffice and ODF citation support is really poor, for example.
So I guess if I’d like to see MS, Sun, IBM, etc. do the right thing for users, I’d like:
- MS to follow Bob’s suggestion and participate in the ODF TC, to address concerns we might have about OXML (for example, my interest in the new citation support) and they might have about ODF so that we can ease interoperability in the future
- Sun to spin-off OOo, and IBM to contribute to it; make the code more modular and easy-to-extend, and the community more open
