Bjoern Milcke wrote: > Hi Jürgen, > >> I am always happy when one of my demo components developed for >> StarOffice 6.0 (before OO.org) work with StarOffice 8 as well. I think >> it can be a good reason for customers to switch to SO/OO.org using our >> API (with java for example) because they know that the implementation of >> macros, some integration and/or extension is a one time investment and >> would work with future versions as well. It is not really calculable for >> professional ISV's or bigger companies if they have to check their code >> with every new version of the product. >> >> MS has shown how successful they were with their compatible API's over >> years. > > Maybe I missed your irony here, but: > > Back in the old days I developed some macros for Word 1.0, which didn't > run in Word 1.1. After conversion they didn't work in Word 2.0. And > today those files even don't open (except in OOo ;-) ). I also did some > macros in Excel. Then they had a German version where they had the idea > to translate the API! (exit loop => verlasse durchlaufe), then they > switched back to English (seeing that it was a bad idea). At some point > there was also the invention of VBA (AFAIR before it was some more basic > Baisc ;-) ), which was also a change. So, to make a long story short, I > wouldn't call MS's API in Office very compatible. (I remember they had > some lengthy methods, where they only changed the order of parameters). > > Maybe the API stayed stable since I stopped developing MS Macros (which > is quite some time ago) > > But, I think what is important here: they had conversion tools, or at > least documentation what changed and how to migrate. I think this is a > crucial part for the acceptance of changed API. If you open an old > Macro, get a dialog and say "Yes" and it still runs, I think nobody > would object. However, of course, we do not only have Macros, so we need > at least migration guides for extension programmers who use different > languages.
This will not solve the problem as this again depends on the work of the extension programmer. The user still would be lost if the developer didn't react. If there was only Basic the worst thing that could happen is a macro that doesn't run (as Basic uses late binding), but in case of "real" programming languages most probably OOo would crash. Best regards, Mathias -- Mathias Bauer - OpenOffice.org Application Framework Project Lead Please reply to the list only, [EMAIL PROTECTED] is a spam sink. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
