Comments for Opportunity Knocks

Comment on Congrats by You Know, Stuff! « Opportunity Knocks

You Know, Stuff! « Opportunity Knocks — Thu, 08 May 2008 02:21:47 +0000

[...] After two months at home, it is good to be back at work, except for the ceiling fragments dropping down my shirt. I don't think I've ever been to Ohio before, so this is something new. Marc, I'll come visit when I get a day off, so you can see my grandbaby pictures. [...]

Comment on Groklaw: OOXML Contradicts ISO Standards by Edwin Class

Edwin Class — Thu, 01 May 2008 23:33:29 +0000

Your Blog is very professional just like you. I liked your “policy” disclaimer type… the color selection and the fact that you are a born-again Christian. I did not see any comments about “that woman”, favorite music, sports or movies. Take care and keep on the good work!

Comment on Arguing About Archiving by moonstudio

moonstudio — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 08:07:11 +0000

Nice post.
Thanks

Comment on iWork Not ODF-Capable Yet by Ken

Ken — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 16:45:05 +0000

I’d love to see Apple support, if not ODF by default, then some sort of mechanism to choose what format you want to use: ODF, iWork, or (much as it pains me to write it) OOXML. That seems like the best way to foster open standards.

But, would it even be possible to express Numbers documents in ODF format? I don’t know anything about the XML-based formats, but ODF seems to be dependent on having a single-table-per-sheet model. Could a multiple-table-per-sheet model even work?

If so, there would be no going back from iWork for me. But as it is, I’m not willing to sacrifice data portability by not using ODF.

Comment on Convert Legacy Files To ODF Inside MSFT Office by lnxwalt

lnxwalt — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 08:59:37 +0000

da Vinci is no longer being released, or at least not with ODF in mind. I suggest that Sun’s plug-in be used for those who wish to continue using Microsoft Office.

Comment on What’s Wrong With Choice? by Drummer

Drummer — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 19:51:58 +0000

- Andy Pepperdine said on 2007-January-23 at 6:42 -

”Brian Jones: “Choice is a good thing”.

Who is he kidding? If I, as a consumer, buy a freezer, I expect, for reasons of interoperability, that the plug on the end of the power cord fits the sockets in my house; I do not expect to have a choice, and in fact I would that there not be a choice. …”

He has a choice. First, he could buy a freezer that runs on 120volts/60Hz alternating current, or one that runs on a 12volt DC supply (like a battery), or one that runs on propane or natural gas. But let’s assume that he chooses to have one that runs on 120VAC.
The “industry standard” (I assume he’s in the U.S.) would specify that his appliance would have a male plug, with two flat blades and one round connector, which would mate with a female connector with two slots and one hole. It wouldn’t matter if his appliance was from Amana, Whirlpool, Sub-Zero, Bosch, or any one of dozens of other suppliers of appliances. They would all come with a similar male plug. Likewise, the wall socket could be made by Leviton, Cooper, or any one of a number of other manufacturers. Each plug would work identically in each socket because there is ONE standard for plugs and sockets.
Granted, in this case the standard is an American-only standard. But the standard for specifying voltage is international. It wouldn’t do to think of how a “volt” is determined would be different in the U.S. than in Canada or France, or even state-to-state.
Neither the definitions for electrical properties nor the specifications for plugs & sockets is encumbered by patents. Standards such as these promote competition. Competition means that although the functionality is identical, there’s still something that each manufacturer can offer - lower price, more durable materials, color choices, special features. These do not take away from or add to the functionality, but can be determining factors for consumers.
Oh, and I guess you could still buy a freezer that runs on 12 volts. Or on gas. But at least there’s some “standard” connectors for those as well.

Comment on Is This What It Takes To Push OOXML Into The Market? by Jerry Sheehan

Jerry Sheehan — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:04:29 +0000

Re: “How about it, Altova? Could this be the reason why your products do not support ODF? I know there is demand, since up to 600 people a day come to this blog looking for the answer to one question: How can I open this ODF file someone sent me? Are you really willing to give up that many potential opportunities to sell your XML software? Is implementing OOXML so difficult that you must have MSFT’s good will and thus cannot risk satisfying potential customers?”

— I wrote a blog post about this awhile back that shows the Altova tools can be used with ODF if you’re interested? Here is the, page

Comment on What’s Wrong With Choice? by wtr

wtr — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 07:32:25 +0000

Microsoft does not want to lose all goverments to open standards, so they created their own…but why do goverments need backwards comaptibility to old ugly binary formats? They can convert .doc files to odf can’t they?

Comment on What’s Wrong With Choice? by Boycott Novell » Microsoft May be Threatening ODF-Supportive Governments, by Proxy

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 04:29:00 +0000

[...] allergy Microsoft has for real choice gets a mention in this old blog post. [via Groklaw] So, Brian, do you really care about choice? Prove it to me. Instead of a [...]

Comment on What’s Wrong With Choice? by chris101010

chris101010 — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 22:01:04 +0000

Anything done and said by Microsoft has one end in mind, the maintaining of their vendor lock-in on their customers. All the talk about interoperability is just smoke and mirrors. Interoperability and open standards is what BG has nightmares about.
They have never competed fairly in the marketplace with anyone and they’re not about to start now.