[CentOS] DocX support in OpenOffice
Paul Heinlein
heinlein at madboa.com
Thu Oct 18 21:14:09 UTC 2007
On Thu, 18 Oct 2007, Morten Torstensen wrote:
> centos at 911networks.com wrote:
>> Here is the basic problem with Linux! Over 1 million office 2007
>> users and they have to change their software because it does not
>> conform to the "standard".
>
> It is not only a problem for Linux users. Office 2003/XP/2000 etc
> can not read these files either. I know many Windows only shops who
> are pretty annoyed with the upgrade churn Microsoft force on them.
It's a decade-old problem. MS Office 97 altered the binary .doc format
in ways unreadable by Office 95. Word 97 claimed it could save in 95's
format, but in reality all it did was write an RTF file. RTF isn't
nearly as capable as .doc, so anything other than extremely basic
formatting instructions were lost in the translation.
Only prolonged customer screaming led MS to offer true
backward-compatible binary filters for Office 97 -- and even then it
was never advertised. You had to know exactly what you were seeking to
find it buried in the bowels of microsoft.com.
Just get it out of your head that Microsoft's true customers are those
who purchase MS products. Its true customers are the folks who own MS
stock.
--
Paul Heinlein <> heinlein at madboa.com <> http://www.madboa.com/
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