It's about time
Over the last few weeks, Microsoft has really been putting in the pressure to get MA to turn from Open Document - all kinds of political chicanery, and opening their format up still further (altho still will some potential barbs in it).
Naturally, the naysayers (/. readers ;o) have leapt on all this, with the "ODF was doomed before it even began", "MS will never let ODF get into government" and the like. The opinion was that there was too much money on MS's side for them to loose.
Of course, the more thoughtful individual would have been struck by the thought "Hang on. Sun, IBM, and dozens of other big names are all backing ODF. It could be the only chance for them to break MS's stranglehold on the desktop. What about all their money & influence?"
It's starting to show: IBM have begun to make their play, and various onlookers believe this has just put ODF back onto at least an even footing with MS.
And in unrelated news (?) Gentoo finally put OpenOffice2.0 into Stable, so I'm now running the version that supports ODF on my home PC. Haven't given it much of a test-out yet, but I'll get to it. I keep meaning to take a look at Abiword as well, which is a much more lightweight (ODF-supporting) word processor. . .
Oh, and the NY Times is reporting about how even professional musicians (the guys the RIAA claims it's acting in the interests of) are anti-DRM, as it makes it harder for people to hear their stuff, so they won't buy the albums. It also begs a question I referred to in an earlier post: Why would anyone want to pay for DRM-crippled CDs when you can download a non-cripple for free?
Naturally, the naysayers (/. readers ;o) have leapt on all this, with the "ODF was doomed before it even began", "MS will never let ODF get into government" and the like. The opinion was that there was too much money on MS's side for them to loose.
Of course, the more thoughtful individual would have been struck by the thought "Hang on. Sun, IBM, and dozens of other big names are all backing ODF. It could be the only chance for them to break MS's stranglehold on the desktop. What about all their money & influence?"
It's starting to show: IBM have begun to make their play, and various onlookers believe this has just put ODF back onto at least an even footing with MS.
And in unrelated news (?) Gentoo finally put OpenOffice2.0 into Stable, so I'm now running the version that supports ODF on my home PC. Haven't given it much of a test-out yet, but I'll get to it. I keep meaning to take a look at Abiword as well, which is a much more lightweight (ODF-supporting) word processor. . .
Oh, and the NY Times is reporting about how even professional musicians (the guys the RIAA claims it's acting in the interests of) are anti-DRM, as it makes it harder for people to hear their stuff, so they won't buy the albums. It also begs a question I referred to in an earlier post: Why would anyone want to pay for DRM-crippled CDs when you can download a non-cripple for free?
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