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How open is the new MS Office? | |
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| Time: 10:22 EST/15:22 GMT | News Source: ZDNet | Posted By: Robert Stein | ||
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Microsoft says it's opening up its Office desktop software by adding support for XML--a move that should help companies free up access to their shared information. But there's a catch: Microsoft has yet to disclose the underlying XML dialect that it's using. The software giant intends to make Extensible Markup Language (XML) a supported file format--in addition to existing proprietary formats--for its upcoming Office 11 desktop software, which is in the hands of about 12,000 beta testers. XML is a widely used standard for Web data exchange. | ||
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| #1 By 3339 (65.198.47.10) at 12/16/2002 7:32:33 PM |
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Umm, boys, Microsoft themselves admitted the schema is proprietary. They can tout the XMLness of it up the wazoo, but that only means that it will be easy to grab the data... This has rarely ever been the problem, issue. The issue is file format compatibility and the way features are rendered, formatted when being transferred between apps. And there is no indication that that will be open at all.
Even if you had an XSD-capable app, which I take as a big dodge on MS's part, the schema is still "proprietary" as they themselves state. Which means that it may be illegal to reimplement unless it can be done with reverse-enginerring which is the same way that people have achieved compatibility to the degree that they have today. "Microsoft is going to have to document the schema so that corporate customers can access the data and utilize the XML for their internal applications." No, they don't--they just have to document portions of the schema that will contain specific data that MS thinks people will use usefully--how many of you intend to extensive data-type portions of word processing files? They do not need to publish the portion of the schema that determines how the files render whatsoever; in fact, this article clearly states that Microsoft has no intention of doing so for the time being. |
| #2 By 3339 (65.198.47.10) at 12/17/2002 1:28:06 PM |
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kevin, I'm aware that's the intent of MS, but most people aren't aware that this isn't what they want. People want to be able to take an Office doc from a client and open it with the app they use. They don't want for a client to define some data elements as addresses, names, etc.. in a doc and then build some database to rip that data out off of the web. This is my point, this is the point of the story, and the point being made.
Jagged, I don't get your question: yes, file formats and rendering across apps is the key issue so I want them to release those portions of the file format and say, we understand that if we want to be the de facto standard we need to allow other apps to use the format as if it was a standard. They don't have to change anything but what they aren't doing. And it's not a question of keeping up--they've said we have no intention of doing this. If they did it tomorrow but it took another company 2 years to get to the point where it was compatible, I'd still be much happier with Microsoft tomorrow. |
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