Opponents to OOXML, which include IBM (Quote<!--, <A HREF="http://www.internetnews.com/stocks/quotes/chart.php/IBM/chart">Chart</A>-->) and the Open Document Foundation, have argued that Microsoft's specifications are unwieldy and that the standard application is redundant with the Open Document Format (ODF), which already exists.
Microsoft has countered that the OOXML format is valuable because it is closer to Office 2007 and is backwards-compatible with older versions of Office. "Although both ODF and Open XML are document formats, they are designed to address different needs in the marketplace," the company wrote in an open letter published earlier this month.
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Once again there is that ever present drum beat from Microsoft that ODF can't handle MSOffice and legacy MSOffice features - including but not mentioned the conversion to XML of those infamous billions of binary documents:
Of course this "incompatibility"outcome was planned years ago. What else could we expect since Microsoft has steadfastedly refused to participate in the OASIS Open Office XML (ODF) effort, which began in 2002 with Microsoft joining the group, but noticeably choosing to observe without contribution or participation.
So it is Microsoft who is a fault for any finding of ODF - MSOffice incompatibility, not the OASIS ODF Technical Committee or ODF community of vendors, developers and users.
Our friends in Redmond planned and plotted for this dilemma. Their intentions are to control completely the migration of information and information processes from legacy binary file formats to their own version of XML.
One thing many people miss about this is that Microsoft mus tmove to XML fiel formats no matter what. The Internet has usshered in a new age of collaborative computing based on universal access, connectivity and exchange. It's a world driven by HTML, XML and RDF/XML. Microsoft either embraces this juggernaut, or gets left in the dust.
Interestingly, i for one believe that Microsoft has the best next generation Internet - XML stategey out there. There's a lot of low level wiki - writely collaobration out there. And of course Lotus Notes has reigned for years, alone and unchallenged in the client/server area of intelligent documents, forms, managed workflows, scripted routing, and collaborative computing. Microsoft's extraordinary opportunity is to leverage their desktop MSOffic emonopoly of over 500 million users into the emerging arena of highly interoperable "Information Processing Chains".
Because of Redmond's iron fisted monopolist control over MSOffice desktop productivity environment's, they own entirely the Information Processing Chain opportunity. And the Vista Chain (Stack) is a wonder to behold.
The core of the Vista Chain is the OOXML document/data transport connection between MSOffice and the Exchange/SharePoint/Groove Hub. IE and Vista augment this chain in that they are OOXML fluent and OOXML enabling.
The idea here is for Microsoft to migrate to the E/S XML HUB both the MSOffice bound binary documents and the volumes of critical day to day MSOffice bound business processes, line of business integrated apps, and scores of assistive technology type add-ons. Microsoft has to ge this job done before others swoop in and do it for them. Others would be SaaS, SOA, and a host of Enterprise 2.0 collaborative computing initiatives.
The Vista Chain is based on the portable XML document/data transport, OOXML; and,the Vista .NET 3.0 framework. Legacy Win 32 APi application and platform dependencies that bind those billions of binary documents to MSOffice, are replaced in OOXML by bindings to the Vista .NET 3.0 dependencies. From the E/S Hub, it's easy for end users to create data and workflow bindings involving MS SQL Server transaction and data processing backends. Same with MS Live, Office Communicator, Active Directory, MS ERP, MS CRM, and MS Money.
The Vista Chain is good stuff. Moving those MSOffic ebound business processes to the E/S XML Hub is not all that difficult, and the reward is a guaranteed leap in porductivity. A giant leap.
Which brings us back to the challenge ODF faces. Will there be an ODF Chain? Not if users and providers are unable to perfectly convert those MSOffice bound billions of billions fo binary documents and MSOffice bound business processes to ODF.
The challenge for ODF is in doing exactly what OOXML does. The end users migration to XML and the XML Hubs is entirely dependent on three successive stages. All of which OOXML can currently master:
- Perfect Conversion Fidelity :: of billions of binary documents to XML (ODF - OOXXML)
- Perfect Round Trip Fidelity :: MSOffic ebound business processes Workgroup - WorkFlow
- Application Interoperability :: between all processing chain application participants, even as they
The OpenDocument Foundation believes that our ODF 1.2 daVinci plugin for MSOffice will prove conclussively that ODF can handle stages 1 and 2 every bit as well as OOXML. In fact, daVinci can do much better than OOXML in that other ODF 1.2 ready applications will be able to directly participate for the first time ever. The Foundation also has two other products in the works to augment the daVinci miracle; the portable InfoSet Engine and APi, and the Interop Wizard for OpenOffice.span desktop, server, device and Enterprise 2.0 serivces and systems.
When the OASIS ODF Metadata RDF/XML Sub Committee sends the ODF 1.2 proposal to the mainline TC for consideration, we will release the daVinci prototype to Stephen O'Grady of Redmonk for comparative testing against the other available plugins. At the end of the day though, the cahllenge for daVinci will be in proving conclussively that ODF is able, sufficient and ready to master the three stages of migration, and do so every bit as well as OOXML.
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