Thought this might be of interest even if OT.
-------- Original Message --------
OpenOffice.org Ninja <http://www.oooninja.com/>
Microsoft support for OpenDocument (ODF)
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Posted: 04 May 2009 09:58 AM PDT
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Recently released, Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 2 supports
OpenDocument Format version 1.1. With Microsoft's tarnished history of
abusing standards for profit
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend_and_extinguish> and
obvious preference for Microsoft's own Office Open XML, what could
Microsoft's ODF support possibility look like?
Office 2007 SP2 supports ODF is supported out of the box. There's
nothing to add on or enable: It Just Works(tm). OpenDocument is listed
among other formats in the File and Save dialogs. Remarkably Excel and
PowerPoint list OpenDocument last. The order is neither alphabetical
(XPS comes before OpenDocument) nor not in terms of conversion fidelity
(because CSV also comes first).
To evaluate the quality, I opened the reference document
ODF_text_reference_v3.odt
<http://katana.oooninja.com/w/reference_sample_documents> in Word 2007.
Overall the conversion was respectable for what is essentially a version
1.0 release for Microsoft Office. The bugs I noticed were:
* Tracked changes were missing.
* The second level of an ordered list was indented like first level
(that is, it was not intended correctly).
* An inline image was out of place.
* One active hyperlink was neither blue nor underlined (though
another hyperlink is fine).
* All form controls were missing.
* Not exactly a format bug, but Word 2007 considers "OpenDocument"
misspelled though "WordPerfect" is recognized.
I also tested saved simple spreadsheet functions in OpenOffice.org 3.1
(release candidate 1) and opened it in Excel. A chart converted nicely,
but Excel silently converted all the functions to their last values.
That's often fine for viewing but worthless for collaboration. Microsoft
seems to be waiting for OpenFormula (ODFF) standard to be finished, but
Rob Weir
<http://www.robweir.com/blog/2009/05/update-on-odf-spreadsheet.html>
points out that some Microsoft Office customers were already saving
spreadsheet formula in ODF using the OpenXML/ODF Translator Add-in for
Office <http://odf-converter.sourceforge.net/>, a project involving
Microsoft.
Undoubtedly there are more bugs and quirks that will show up in certain
types of documents. For example, Ivan N. Zlatev
<http://i-nz.net/2009/05/01/ms-office-2007-sp2-opendocument-support/>
noticed a few. Generally I expect simple ODF word processor documents
will transfer easily, but large business document will suffer.
To be fair, any large software program has bugs, and Office 2007 SP2 is
Microsoft's first take on ODF in Office. Furthermore, not all
differences are bugs, and Microsoft gets bonus points for documenting
implementation details
<http://blogs.msdn.com/dmahugh/archive/2008/12/16/odf-implementation-notes-for-office-2007-sp2.aspx>.
For example, ODF allows for larger page sizes, but Word 2007 imposes a
limit of 22x22 inches on all document formats.
Even ODF poster child OpenOffice.org has bugs in the ODF implementation.
My favorite is 64237
<http://qa.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=64237>: until version
3.0, OpenOffice.org implemented the paragraph hidden property backwards.
Microsoft has opened the ODF door and will be pressured on better
interoperability, so even my inner cynic has a hard time imagining
interoperability will not improve. With Office 2007 SP2 and Wordpad in
Windows 7 supporting ODF, the future looks bright for OpenDocument
Format. Has Microsoft turned a new leaf? Microsoft's recent investments
in ODF, PDF, and web standards (in Internet Explorer 8) are probably
more a function of government regulation or business demand than
corporate goodwill. Backed into a corner or otherwise, Microsoft has
done the right thing, but further work is necessary before the general
public can use ODF transparently in Office.
Microsoft has surrendered on web standards and office document formats,
and they will focus the battle elsewhere. By the time Evolution and
Thunderbird gain traction as competitors to Outlook, Microsoft will have
business users addicted to more complex technologies such as Sharepoint
and software as a service (SaaS).
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--
Harold Fuchs
London, England
Please reply *only* to [email protected]
