Re: [tdf-discuss] Re: Do not support writing to OOXML format

On 1/2/2011 4:56 PM, Bruno Girin wrote:
> On 2 January 2011 17:19, Barbara Duprey<Barb@onr.com>  wrote:
> > On 1/2/2011 2:29 PM, Italo Vignoli wrote:
> > > On 1/2/11 8:15 PM, Barbara Duprey wrote:
> [snip]
> > It would be good to know which works better for interoperability when sent
> > to an MS-only shop -- ODF or the current OOXML. In other words, is the LibO
> > version of OOXML a better product than the MS version of ODF? Very
> > interesting, if so. I'd like to know which to recommend. And of course the
> > Sun(free)/Oracle(not free) plugin for MS Office is a player in this
> > question, too. I know it's better than the MS ODF, but how does it compare
> > to the LibO OOXML?
> OOXML wins hands down in this use case. Not because the LibO/OOo OOXML
> is better than the Microsoft ODF or Sun/Oracle plugin for MS Office
> but because the vast majority of MS-only shops don't bother installing
> support for ODF in the first place. I went through this with a
> customer recently: it ended up being a lot easier for me to output
> OOXML or good old DOC than for them to install the right plugins to
> read ODF. This is compounded by the fact that a lot of MS-only shops
> are large companies that still use Windows XP with an old version of
> Office.
>
> Bruno

I was under the impression that the vanilla versions of Office since 2007 SP2 could read and write 
ODF formats, with no need to install any plugins (but with their own special twist on ODF). From 
what you say here, that is not true; I haven't installed Office in a long time, and don't intend to, 
so I didn't know that ODF support was not automatic. (Actually, I'm glad it isn't! There's less 
chance of the MS version co-opting the market.) Obviously those shops using the old versions of 
Office need the corresponding version-specific formats, not OOXML in any form, and hopefully they'll 
tell their correspondents which one. For the case where the version is unknown, the XP format is the 
still the safest if you are originating a new document to send them that they'll need to be able to 
edit. And maybe it is the best even if you know they have a recent version -- that's still not clear.

--
Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to discuss+help@documentfoundation.org
Archive: http://listarchives.documentfoundation.org/www/discuss/
*** All posts to this list are publicly archived for eternity ***