[K12OSN] office suite interoperability

[Nils Breunese]

James P. Kinney III wrote:

> I hear repeatedly "We MUST use Microsoft office because that's what
> everyone has". I guess "lemmings" comes to mind...
>
> It really bothers me that people who in general will be writing just a
> few pages with a picture or two are brainwashed into believing they  
> MUST
> have an application that will cost each pc more than the value of  
> the pc
> each year in licensing.
>
> Thus enters OpenOffice.org
>
> What a fabulous application. Cross platform so Windows, Mac and Linux
> (and Solaris and SGI and...) user can all share files seamlessly.
>
> Yes I _still_ hear the argument "But people don't have OpenOffice at
> home so we can't use it".
>
> ?????
>
> It costs $0 to obtain a legal copy.
>
> So the often used rule in K12LTSP is to setup OpenOffice so the  
> default
> output format is Microsoft Office format.
>
> Personally, I think that is a bad idea. It's just a short term kludge
> workaround to not having the resources to train people in how to "Save
> As".
>
> But Sun has stepped up and released the best solution - a plugin to
> Microsoft Office that can read and write OpenOffice format files.
>
> The file format of OpenOffice is an ISO standard right now. Make sure
> everyone keeps hearing that mantra - OpenOffice is standards compliant
> but Microsoft Office is not.
>
> Then offer the plugin to help bring Microsoft Office up to current  
> world
> standards:
>
> http://www.sun.com/software/star/openoffice/
>
> Be sure to remind everyone that open document formats are just like
> knowledge: good for everyone.

I totally agree, but it seems Microsoft Office Open XML (OOXML),  
which has nothing to do with OpenOffice.org by the way, is also on  
its way to become an ISO standard, so your standards argument might  
soon be wearing thin:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Open_XML>

Nils Breunese.
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