On Wednesday 23 March 2005 01:20 am, Keith Bates wrote: > > Why does it matter who made the standard? > > You know, the internet and computer use has gotten along just fine > > for over a decade with DOCs, PPTs, and no OOo...
Yes, when .doc simply meant documents and didn't have Microsoft specific formatting wrapped up in it, that was great. Now, the .doc format changes under the hood with every release of Office and not always for the better. Still, the latest MS .docs are XML and therefore should be relatively easy to support with any Word Processor. > For an article about why open standards ARE important and DOC files > are... well evil see this article: > > http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2005/03/21/1111253920087.html?oneclick=tr >ue First off, that site requires registration, which would be nice to know. Secondly, it sets at least 6 cookies, maybe more and warns you not to reject any of them, or the site won't load. Thirdly, the single paragraph that's strictly relevant to this conversation has little information, but references these two sources: Open Source Software - Perspectives For Development http://www.infodev.org/content/library/detail/837 The Oasis Standards (and Other Approved Work) http://www.oasis-open.org/specs/index.php You'll notice that the very first document available on the Oasis page is available in... MSWord format. I don't know if that's an indicator of trust, or an ironic result of the prevalaece of Word, but it made me chortle. -- _______________________________________________________ Corvus Elrod "Only when you recognize your limitations, PJ's Attic do you truly become limitless." --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
