Saving in OOXML Format Now Probably A Bad Idea 150
orlando writes "Much drama is unfolding prior to the OOXML Ballot Resolution Meeting in Geneva, currently schedule for the end of February. After that there's a subsequent 30 day period while countries can still change their vote. As a result, Bob Sutor is recommending that saving your documents in OOXML format right now is probably about the riskiest thing you can do, if you are concerned with long term interoperability. At this point nobody has the vaguest idea what OOXML will look like in February, or even whether it will be in any sort of stable condition by the end of March. 'While we are talking about interoperability, who else do you think is going to provide long term complete support for this already-dead OOXML format that Microsoft Office 2007 uses today? Interoperability means that other applications can process the files fully and not just products from Microsoft. I would even go so far as to go back to those few OOXML files you have already created and create .doc, .ppt, and .xls versions of them for future use, if you want to make sure you can read them and you don't want to commit yourself to Microsoft's products for the rest of their lives.'"
Re:Future compatibility? What about now? (Score:4, Informative)
The 'classics' are always best, anyway--because, frankly, if you need more formatting than some basic markup that would be covered by rtf or html, you ought be using something aimed more towards desktop publishing than word processing--and for that, you can use TeX or something.
These fancy-schmancy formats are just feature creep, really, in my opinion. If you need clip art to say it, then perhaps you don't need to say it at all.
Re:Did he say that about ODF before approval? (Score:5, Informative)
Then there is the problem that Office 2007 does not fully support the OOXML (so you cannot save to OOXML now, only OOXMLish).
Furthermore Microsoft has clearly stated they will not follow ISO-OOXML - unless it does exactly what Microsoft wants it to do.
So no matter what you do, your file will be outdated in a few years.
Re:Niggers still a bad idea (Score:3, Informative)
The XML schema should also change. (Score:2, Informative)
it was ECMA, not IEEE (Score:1, Informative)
It was ECMA they went through, not IEEE.
(I am an IEEE member.)
Re:Isn't Google/IBM providing support for OOXML? (Score:3, Informative)
http://talkback.zdnet.com/5208-12558-0.html?forumID=1&threadID=43385&messageID=803908 [zdnet.com]
Jeremy.
Re:Did he say that about ODF before approval? (Score:4, Informative)
The article in question says Office 2007 does not fully follow OOXML. Bugs they are not.
Brian Jones has said that Microsoft is not committted to OOXML http://www.techworld.com/storage/features/index.cfm?featureid=3685&pagtype=all [techworld.com]