Re: [office] List Proposal Vote Deadline on Wednesday

[marbux <marbux@gmail.com>]

On 5/3/07, Oliver-Rainer Wittmann - Software Engineer - Sun
Microsystems <Oliver-Rainer.Wittmann@sun.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> marbux wrote:
> > ...
> >
> > What conceivable motive would Florian have for raising the
> > interoperability issue other than the fact that he can't find a way
> > around it? I'm mindful here that Florian has been fairly wallowing in
> > ODF-MS Office interop development work for quite some time. In fact,
> > he's part of the only development team in existence that is working on
> > full fidelity ODF interop with MS Office, so I'm inclined to take his
> > warning seriously.
> >
>
> Sorry, but I know at least one other team, that is working for years (!)
> on interoperability with Microsoft Office file formats. It's the
> OpenOffice.org development team, especially the OpenOffice.org
> developers from Sun Mircosystems. I'm proud to be part of this team.
> First, its work was based on the OpenOffice.org file format. Since the
> existence of ODF and its implementation in OpenOffice.org this team
> works on the ODF - Microsoft Office file formats interoperability. The
> resulting filters and converters are of extraordinary quality.

I guess I missed that Sun press release and so did Michael. :-) Got a
link? Or did you just miss or misunderstand my use of the phrase "full
fidelity?" I don't want to detract from the quality of your team's
work, but the quality of your filters and converters do not meet the
market requirements for full fidelity in migration to ODF apps from MS
Office formats and the wholly automated business processes interaction
with Microsoft formats use cases. See e.g., E-SIGN Act, 15 U.S.C.
7001(d)(1)(B) (electronically preserved records must "accurately
reflect[] the information set forth in the contract or other record"
and be "in a form that is capable of being accurately reproduced for
later reference, whether by transmission, printing, or otherwise");
Sarbanes-Oxley Act, 15 U.S.C. 7261(b) (financial information must "not
contain an untrue statement of a material fact"). How do your
converters and filters measure up against those legal standards?
Michael says Sun is indifferent to lossiness in your team's filters
and converters. And so far as I'm aware, no one has ever suggested
that they are not lossy.

I'll stand by my statement. I don't know of any development team other
than the Foundation's that is actually aiming for full fidelity
conversions.

>
> Be sure, that I have no interest in submitting a proposal to the ODF TC
> that would cause, that an interoperability between ODF and Microsoft
> Office file formats isn't possible any more. Currently, I see no problem
> in the conversion from ODF to Microsoft Word file formats and vice versa
> regarding lists/numbered paragraphs.
>
Have you actually tested or are you just blowing an opinion past me?
Gary said your proposal's adoption by the TC just broke your
competitor's plug-in. That's one way of eliminating competition, I
guess, but I'd much prefer that Sun compete based on quality. So it
matters much to me whether Gary and Sam are wrong or Sun has in fact
used the auspices of the TC to eliminate a competitor from the market.
Pardon the paranoia, but I've watched the standardization process be
manipulated far too many times to gain unfair advantages. When a
developer says a standardization decision just broke his application,
I take the situation very seriously. It ain't exactly an unheard of
situation.

How Sun behaves in the present situation will speak volumes.

Best regards,

Marbux