Re: Office 2008 for Mac press release
- From: Michel Bintener <m.bintener@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2007 18:13:48 +0100
Hi Dave,
see inline for answers.
On 11/1/07 15:02, in article C1CB9FB2.CEAF%dave_minerath@xxxxxxxxxxx, "Dave
Minerath" <dave_minerath@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 1/10/2007 1:34 AM, in article C1CA5595.1E91D%m.bintener@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
"Michel Bintener" <m.bintener@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 10/1/07 7:18, in article C1C9E170.CE6E%dave_minerath@xxxxxxxxxxx, "Dave
Minerath" <dave_minerath@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Enhanced compatibility between Windows and Mac users is all well and good,
but will it support the OpenDocument format? After one too many corrupted
research note .doc files, I've started using NeoOffice and saving in the
OpenDocument format, which I understand is now an industry standard file
format. It's interesting that my files are now 1/3 to 1/2 the size of a
.doc file.
The different file sizes are perfectly normal; ODF, just like Microsoft's
Office Open XML format, compresses several elements inside the file. If you
try to zip a regular doc file (right-click in the Finder, then select Create
Archive), you will notice a similar difference.
Oh yes, I'm aware of that, and I'm quite pleased with it. I've had
documents in ODF shrink to 1/3 the size of the same .doc file.
From what I've read, the .doc format is so convoluted that it is easy to get
corrupted .doc files--so easy that a procedure had to be written up to fix
them. This was the main driving force behind my conversion to NeoOffice and
the ODF. My docs tend to have quite a few embedded objects--multiple
equations, charts, and tables--and on more than one occasion I've had to go
through and check all the objects because one of them was corrupted and
causing the famous "out of drive space" error. One workaround is to close
and re-open the document once and hour. While one should save one's work on
a regular basis, that's what autosave is for. I've gone several hours
between saves because I'm so focused on the work.
But I stray from the topic.
Yes, document corruption is a sad reality when dealing with .doc files,
though I do have to say that I have yet to encounter one. Then again, I
normally write text-only documents or documents with very few inline images,
and in this case, document corruption is not that likely.
I read that it will support the Office XML format, but I don't think this is
the same as the ODF (but I could be wrong---I'm good at it.)
Yes, Office Open XML will be the default file format in Office 2008, though
you will be able to save your documents as doc files, in case you need to
send them to users of older Office versions. As far as I know, the Win
Office developer team has announced that they are working on ODF converters
for Office 2007; no such announcement has been made regarding Mac Office,
though. Then again, it's still early days for Office 2008...
When you say ODF converters, do you mean converting -TO- ODF or -FROM- ODF?
Converting to ODF would be the way to go, since it is now a industry
standard format. How "standard" is Office XML going to be? Is it going to
be a case of "embrace and extend" of the XML format? Given that it is being
called "Office XML" and not just "XML" leads me to believe this is the case.
It's a topic I should probably research more before deciding to ditch Word
entirely.
I did some research on this and I have found out that the ODF plug-in is
already available: <http://sourceforge.net/projects/odf-converter/> This is
an Open Source initiative, sponsored by Microsoft, if I'm correctly
informed, and it will not only allow Word to read ODF files, but to save
them as well. Right now, this plug-in is only available for Word 2007, and I
don't know if there's going to be a similar plug-in for Word 2008. Too soon
to tell, I guess.
As for the Office XML format, it's not "open", in the sense that anybody can
change it. But it is freely published, so that everyone can implement it
into their applications if they want to. In that sense, Office XML is
lightyears ahead of the .doc format, since most software developers had to
use reverse-engineering to find out how a .doc file is structured. You can
find out more on Wikipedia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_XML>, and I'd
also suggest you read Brian Jones' blog, which is quite technical, but a
very interesting read if you're truly interested in XML:
<http://blogs.msdn.com/brian_jones/>
--
Michel Bintener
Microsoft MVP
Office:Mac (Entourage & Word)
***Always reply to the newsgroup.***
.
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