web at work wrote:
Lindsay wrote:
From: "Urbane Tiger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2008 5:21 PM
To: <users@openoffice.org>
Subject: [users] Re: OOXML
On Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:33:52 -0400, James Knott
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Urbane Tiger wrote:
Now that OOXML has been accepted by the ISO as a standard can we
expect OOo will adopt it its the preferred format.
Please no rants - there are plenty of soapboxes that are very much
more visble to the world at large than is this mailing list.
This is no rant, but anyone who knows anything about OOXML would never
suggest such a thing. From a technical perspective, it's an absolute
disaster, the sole purpose of which, is to further MS lockin.
Same goes for USB v Firewire. Can you buy a 500G WD Firewire hard
disk at the Post Office for $AU179 -- no. Can you buy a 500G WD USB
hard disk at the Post Office for $AU179 -- yes.
Here is the key to understanding USB Vs Firewire
Quoting the Wikipedia article on Firewire
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire)
"However, the royalty which Apple Inc. and other patent holders
initially demanded from users of FireWire (US$0.25 per end-user system)
and the more expensive hardware needed to implement it (US$1–$2), both
of which have since been dropped, have prevented FireWire from
displacing USB in low-end mass-market computer peripherals, where
product cost is a major constraint.[4][unreliable source?]"
In a green field scenario, the inferior USB technology won because a
certain company with the fruit like became too greedy in the beginning
and did not anticipate the power of "network effect"
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_effect). Note, the end user of the
device does NOT figure in this equation as the decision to leave out
Firewire was made by device manufacturers.
Once USB became ubiquitous, there was an enormous advantage for device
manufacturers to be compatible with the USB standard. In an environment
where USB is ubiquitous, I would choose a technology that works (even
though it is slower) in most case instead of a technology that is
superior , but incompatible with most devices out in the field.
Well, what does this mean to ODF and OOXML ?
The ubiquity of MS office products has created a "network effect" which
is extremely had to break. Moving from .doc to .docx is a simple drop-in
upgrade for Microsoft. I am FORCED to use MS word because a majority of
the people I send/receive documents to/from use MS Office. Being
compatible with this majority is a necessity for me. Further, there is
little good reason for others to switch from MS word to OpenOffice as
the ROI for such a switch is some pain WITHOUT significant immediate
gains. Unless Openoffice and ODF provides a value proposition that
exceeds the net value proposition of MS Office and its network of users,
I believe ODF and Openoffice will find it hard to make a dent in the
Office space. One can't tear down a monopoly by simply being better at
the same game.
However, the following things make me feel more optimistic.
1) Govts. waking up to long term digital data storage problem associated
with proprietary solutions
2) OO supporting plugins ..... OO can move to a new space that MS does
not have a foot hold.
-G
Can someone help me understand this comment? What is the significance
of one, and not the other, being available at the Post Office?
There's obviously something here that I do not know, but probably
ought to, so be kind to me <vbg>.
--
Lindsay Graham
Canberra, Australia
Hello to everyone in Australia, from someone in USA
There is a problem with people's ideas that if a giant business
or government organization, then the software/ file format/ hardware
must be the best out there. That is not always the case.
These organizations use these things because of the best bids
or deals these companies or businesses got for the products.
There are some who think OOXML is better than the ISO based on ODF
formats that OpenOffice.org uses. I for one have used both and I
prefer ODF and OOo over OOXML and MS Office 2003/2007.
Firewire and USB argument is based on the fact that Firewire
has a faster data rate and can be daisy-chained instead of the need
for a hub-device. SCSI was a daisy-chained hard drive technology
and IDE/EIDE won that battle since it had higher capacity per
cost of the device.
If you have Firewire on your computer and you can get an external
device with both Firewire and USB for the same cost as an USB
only device, buy the combo version. Never buy Firewire only
devices if you will one day need to use it on a computer with
USB only - like a friend's computer or a company's computer.
OOXML as an ISO standard - well that is not yet done.
There is no final ISO standard as of yet for the OOXML
formats. There are too many problems that need to be worked out
before it will be finished as final ISO standard, like some
other company successfully using it. AND MS has already moved away from
their
own proposed ISO standard and it seems that MS will not support
their own proposed ISO standard. They are not willing to
support the ODF based ISO, so why do people think they
will support the OOXML based ISO. ODF was being used by
many products before it was made an ISO, when OOXML
is currently used by only one product (MS's) at the date
of the proposal and preliminary acceptance by the ISO committee
to work up a final version for the standard.
a bit long winded, so to speak.
Everyone has their preferences. I have mine, that person
has his/hers, and you have yours.
All you can do is look into the products you want to buy
and ask around and choose the best one for you.
I choose Open Source for the most part. I have to use
MS XP or Vista for an operating, currently. When all of
my XP/Vista products can be run on Linux or have a Linux
version, then I will gladly convert all my computers to Linux.
That is my opinion. It may not be yours or even the best one,
but I have found it works for me and my friends and the
companies/organizations that I support part time.
TL,
New York State,
USA
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