[newbie] KOffice doubts
Although the various elements of KOffice do seem quite good, I am seriously concerned that there is little or no ability to communicate with other programs. About a week ago John raised the question of a KOffice spreadsheet, which he neede to try in another format because it was getting to big for KOffice. It seems to me a serious flaw that any office package does not attempt to read/write other major formats. I may resent having to use MSOffice formats, but at least they can be used for moving data between applications, as did the ability that most windows spreadsheet programs had of saving an early Lotus 1-2-3 format. It is not, I think, adequate to simply say that you can save a csv file. Useful they may be when you're in a corner, but reformatting everything and so on is a huge job. There is much that is good in KOffice, but if they insist on a M$-like proprietary format to the exclusion of all else they will damage their product. My 2p-worth, anyway. Anne Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [newbie] KOffice doubts
Anne Wilson wrote: Although the various elements of KOffice do seem quite good, I am seriously concerned that there is little or no ability to communicate with other programs. About a week ago John raised the question of a KOffice spreadsheet, which he neede to try in another format because it was getting to big for KOffice. It seems to me a serious flaw that any office package does not attempt to read/write other major formats. I may resent having to use MSOffice formats, but at least they can be used for moving data between applications, as did the ability that most windows spreadsheet programs had of saving an early Lotus 1-2-3 format. It is not, I think, adequate to simply say that you can save a csv file. Useful they may be when you're in a corner, but reformatting everything and so on is a huge job. There is much that is good in KOffice, but if they insist on a M$-like proprietary format to the exclusion of all else they will damage their product. My 2p-worth, anyway. I agree with most of this, except that they don't use a proprietary format - it's an open, XML-based format. Most other apps don't have import filters for it (probably because so few people use KOffice) but writing one wouldn't be hard. Word .doc - now _that's_ a proprietary format! Sir Robin -- Do unto others what you would like others to do unto you. And have fun doing it. - Linus Torvalds Robin Turner IDMYO, Bilkent University Ankara 06533 Turkey www.bilkent.edu.tr/~robin Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
Re: [newbie] KOffice doubts
On Wednesday 20 Nov 2002 8:50 pm, Robin Turner wrote: Anne Wilson wrote: Although the various elements of KOffice do seem quite good, I am seriously concerned that there is little or no ability to communicate with other programs. About a week ago John raised the question of a KOffice spreadsheet, which he neede to try in another format because it was getting to big for KOffice. It seems to me a serious flaw that any office package does not attempt to read/write other major formats. I may resent having to use MSOffice formats, but at least they can be used for moving data between applications, as did the ability that most windows spreadsheet programs had of saving an early Lotus 1-2-3 format. It is not, I think, adequate to simply say that you can save a csv file. Useful they may be when you're in a corner, but reformatting everything and so on is a huge job. There is much that is good in KOffice, but if they insist on a M$-like proprietary format to the exclusion of all else they will damage their product. My 2p-worth, anyway. I agree with most of this, except that they don't use a proprietary format - it's an open, XML-based format. Most other apps don't have import filters for it (probably because so few people use KOffice) but writing one wouldn't be hard. Word .doc - now _that's_ a proprietary format! I stand corrected. However, the point I was making was that interoperability is vitally important for many people. With KWord being halfway between a word processor and a desk top publisher app. it is very useful. I realise that importing and exporting complex documents is tricky, but I would hate to see all the good work done on this product going down the pan because people ignore it due to lack of filters. Anne Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
