What Microsoft "sells" about OOXML as differentiator
In section 2, third paragraph of Office_Open_XML_overview.pdf of the 42Mb ECMA specifications, Microsoft states:
Concurrently with those technological advances, markets have diversified to include a new range of applications not originally contemplated in the simple world of document editing programs. These new applications include ones that:
- generate documents automatically from business data;
- extract business data from documents and feed those data into business applications;
- perform restricted tasks that operate on a small subset of a document, yet preserve editability;
- provide accessibility for user populations with specialized needs, such as the blind; or
- run on a variety of hardware, including mobile devices."
The hard reality of OOXML (as ISO/IEC DIS 29500)
Let's analyze one by one these statements:
"Concurrently with those technological advances, markets have diversified to include a new range of applications not originally contemplated in the simple world of document editing programs. These new applications include ones that:
- generate documents automatically from business data;
This is a matter of the application, not of the format. Also possible using ISO 26300 (ODF, OpenDocument).
- extract business data from documents and feed those data into business applications;
With ODF and OpenFormula this could be possible (pure XML fully integrated in the XHTML philosophy)
With OOXML it could be a suicide because as much errors (mainly in spreadsheets), from calendars to formulas, etc.
- perform restricted tasks that operate on a small subset of a document, yet preserve editability;
Same with ODF. Indeed, ODF have a much better separation between different types of contets, and between the contents and the data to format them.
- provide accessibility for user populations with specialized needs, such as the blind; or
Also fake in reality. Read the study on accessibility of OOXML done by University of Toronto:
- run on a variety of hardware, including mobile devices."
There is no complete implementation in any platform apart from Windows/Intel (and MS-Office is not implementing DIS 29500 at all).
There have been released a lot of toy tools in a lot of environments. None of them supports seriously OOXML. Most part of the toy tools are just implementations of the same thing: the so poor Novell translator from near to a year ago.
Windows dependencies in OOXML.
No any implementation in:
- MacOS:
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- NeoOffice is just playing with the Novell translator, no productive, so experimental, only an announce in January for nothing still;
- The announced Apple Works have to be still checked how much implements of DIS 29500;
- MS-Office has been delayed once again without date. How many years needs Microsoft itself to implement OOXML outside Windows?!)
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- Linux:
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- Novell: only the poor translator yet. Much words and few code lines (note: Novell has no patent problems with Microsoft and has privileged technical information because their "interoperability" agreement).
- Xandros, Linspire, etc: who are these guys? Tiny companies playing with Debian and Microsoft at the same time. Nothing from them. Just empty words of yes-men.
- rest of the Linux world: no any implementation.
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- Main office applications competitors to MS-Office:
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- OpenOffice: nothing, neither announce to support OOXML.
- KOffice: nothing, no plan.
- StarOffice: nothing, no plan.
- WorkPlace & Lotus Notes: nothing, no plan.
- WordPerfect: just announce. Nothing in months.
- etc. all the same: nothing.
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- Free/Net/OpenBSD world: nothing.
- Symbian, the most popular operative system in world (more than MS-Windows): nothing.
- GoogleDocs: nothing, no plan indeed.
What is interesting is that all these applications and environments have native support for ODF… Except MS-Office, of course, that only has an external, crappy and artificial limited translator made by the president of the French committee in charge to OOXML (!).
Did I forget anything? (Please, complete).