Enterprise applications Toolkit
Story: OOXML backwards compatibility led Microsoft to ODF
Oh please...
Almost everything about this comment bothers me, so I'll deal with it piece by piece:
"poorly written standard"
Says who? Possibly a MINORITY of the standards approval body, since the standard was approved by the MAJORITY.
"complex if not impossible to use so are now trying to backtrack and use ODF instead"
If you call backtracking implementing both standards, but on a different timetable. They already substantially support the standard through their current version. I totally understand not wanting to revisit and retrofit the current code as that would likely introduce bugs. The handling of rolling the standard into the product is no different from the late 90's when many companies were implementing versions of web technologies in advance of them being approved for inclusion in the HTML standard.
"they have obviously sat down and realised that not only can no one else implement OOXML"
You are insulting a lot of smart people to say that NO ONE else can implement it. Given that the OOXML standard is probably 5 times the size of the ODF standard (since it includes standards for spreadsheet formulas and all kinds of other things that ODF doesn't), it may be justifiable to say that no one else could afford to implement it, but I've seen the open source community do some pretty amazing things. Not to mention the fact that several companies have already implemented the standard.
"they can't either"
Huh? They already said they're going to implement it in Office 14. Yes, I realize that saying and doing are two different things, but they have already substantially supported the standard through the pre-standardization version in the current version of Office.
"Hopefully they will start to play the game and concentrate on making ODF a better standard"
For what purpose, since it is obvious the only way to extend ODF to support the full range of Office features would be to throw it out and write a new, more comprehensive standard? Oh wait, they did...
"trying to mess everything up"
So somehow you look at the implementation of a new standard as somehow personally injurious or detrimental to some pet project (maybe the ODF standard)? I think you are ascribing way too much malice and ill intent to a company that has a hard time trying to get anything at all done, let alone go on some crusade to destroy some standard.
"producing their own train crash of a standard"
In your opinion. I don't have a great deal of love for Microsoft, but neither do I interpret their actions as ill will to their customers. That would require them to remember who their customers are - something they long ago forgot.
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