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From: Wm Stewart on 4 Feb 2010 08:11

OpenOffice is already 99% open, almost perfect with MS formats. It does a
really good job at interoperability. There is no need to debate it - we
know OpenOffice can handle MS formats, because it does such a great job
already. My tests with V3.2 show nearly perfect compatibility.

They key point I'm trying to highlight is that 99% is not enough to reach
the tipping point. Solving the last 1% of interoperability issues with
something as important to users as office documents are all that is keeping
the world back from adopting OO as their office suite of choice.

What I'm arguing for is a laser like focus on that last 1%. We need a
forum for people to send in documents with interoperability issues, and an
understanding that resolving apparently minor issues, say a table's column
alignment does not translate perfectly, are exactly the necessary icing on
the cake that will cause the world to move to an otherwise obviously
superior application suite.

If there is a forum for focusing on this last 1% of interoperability issues
that I'm not aware of, please let me know. Otherwise, I recommend we
establish one as a key initiative required to realize OpenOffice widespread
use. 99% is so close. OpenOffice can win for the long term, but only when
we accept how critically important that last 1% of interoperability is to
the vast majority of the world's office suite users.


On 2/4/2010 3:08 AM, Mike Scott wrote:
> Alan Lord (News) wrote:
> ...
>>
>> Depending on one vendor's closed formats (and docx is not IS/IEC29500)
>> is a sure way to never to achieve your [admirable] objective. Better
>> is to send *your* contacts material in a really open format, such as
>> ODF, and make companies like Microsoft implement these standards
>> properly.
>
> I sort of agree. Except that to many lay people in the 'real world' MS
> /is/ the standard, even to the extent that 'Word' is synonymous with
> 'word processor' and 'Excel' with 'spreadsheet program'. People's
> /perception/ is that if you don't send what /they/ see as standard, then
> it's a problem /you/ have caused. No, I don't like it, but I can't see a
> quick way round it. And it's not helped by academia here - at least one
> university demands essays be submitted in /Word/ format(*): nothing else
> allowed, not even PDF, so thank goodness OOo is up to the mark here!
>
>> But of course their shareholders won't like that much.
>
> Of course not. But that mustn't be allowed to justify unethical business
> practices.
>
>
>
>
> (*) No, they don't say which one :-)
>
>
>
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