Via Slashdot: Microsoft has today released the XML specs behind its popular Word file format, in the guise of WordprocessingML. Basically this means that the format has gone open source—well, sort of anyway. See the Slashdot discussion for an airing of the issues.
Posted by mgk at November 17, 2003 05:05 PMWow. I use the OpenOffice suite, mostly for word processing, and while it will save documents in MSWord format, it doesn't quite get it right. When you open the doc in Word, the formatting is often a little off. This presents a challenge when sharing docs with other users via, say, email. I've been using the PDF option, instead, which results in very large files because while the PDF markup scheme is open, the Adobe compression algorithm is proprietary. At least, that's my understanding.
But this development might mean that OpenOffice (or other programs) can nail the formatting properly for MSWord. Interesting.
MS is obviously now going to have to leverage other features of their software (DRM?) in order to make it compete.
Posted by: George at November 18, 2003 09:43 AM | Link to CommentHas obvious implications for preservation too. Me, I won't be happy until the talking paper clip goes to SourceForge.
Posted by: MGK at November 18, 2003 01:44 PM | Link to Comment