Why ODF and not OOXML - TDF Community Blog
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Many interpreted the last article in this series as an attack on Microsoft for using the OOXML format against users’ interests. However, this was only one of my objectives, as I also wanted to raise users’ awareness of fake open-source software, such as OnlyOffice, which partners with Microsoft in a strategy to lock users in. Users are already aware of the advantages of standard, open formats because they access sites every day whose content is accessible thanks to the HTML format. This is a standard, open format that was first developed and then defended by its inventor, Tim Berners-Lee. He prevented Microsoft from transforming it into a proprietary format with Internet Explorer 6. This forced users to have two versions of a site: one in a standard format and one in a proprietary format. Fortunately, Microsoft’s strategy failed in the case of HTML because the W3C – unlike the ISO – never recognised the changes to the format “forced” by Internet Explorer as valid. This was because Internet Explorer did not display sites in the standard format correctly. Ultimately, this forced the company to develop a browser that complies with all standards, thus allowing users to choose their preferred browser
  • MonkderVierte@lemmy.zipEnglish
    9·
    1 day ago

    or in what way the format remains proprietary.

    Most of it is proprietary extensions. There’s a whole wikipedia article over the drama.

    Stallman quote:

    Microsoft corrupted many members of ISO in order to win approval for its phony ‘open’ document format, OOXML. This was so governments that keep their documents in a Microsoft-only format can pretend that they are using ‘open standards.’ The government of South Africa has filed an appeal against the decision, citing the irregularities in the process.

    And FSFE’ stance on it.

    Edit: moved it in a separate comment.

    • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldEnglish
      27·
      1 day ago

      To me, this would be like if VLC made an angry post about the evils of MP3 instead of just making a great player that can handle it (which they have). People still use VLC because we know that it will handle anything. Plus, they’ve kept the interface simple and intuitive, with most needed functions front and center, with lots of specialized features in menus and settings.

      LibreOffice is losing ground because they don’t take design seriously and instead of making interoperability a priority, they would rather complain about user preferences.

      • azuth@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        1·
        11 hours ago

        You are missing the parts where MP3 is made by a company that makes a music player, publishes a spec to get recognized as an open standard, then starts diverging from this spec to prevent interoperability while of course still pretending to be an open format.

        Said company has also been convicted for anti-competitive practices, against the other spreadsheet software.

        Do you work with office workers? Tabbed design does not help them. I literally had a co worker ask me to if I could put spellcheck from the revision tab to the main one (or have it always showing).