Add Open Document support to Office 2003 (Possibly through an SP)

[Guest]

Now that the Open Document formats have been implemented in some mainstream
products (OpenOffice, KOffice, etc), I would love to see the ability for MS
Office to support these formats.

We don't want to have to upgrade to a newer version (2006) for the document
support, so hopefully we can keep 2003 and eventually have the ability to
open Open Document files.

Thank-you.

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http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...e37f1e&dg=microsoft.public.word.docmanagement

 

[Timothy L]

This isn't directly from Microsoft, but I think you should read this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDocument#Microsoft

It says:
"On Sep. 25, 2005, Alan Joch of Federal Computer Week reported that Microsoft has changed its stance and that
its next Office release will support OpenDocument, though not natively. This "means users would have to select
that format option every time they save a file." (Joch, 2005) As of this time this report has not been
independently confirmed, however, and other reports suggest this is still merely being considered."



P.S. The OpenOffice.org project and software are informally referred to as "OpenOffice", but project
organizers report that this term is a trademark held by another party, requiring them to adopt
"OpenOffice.org" as its formal name (abbreviated as "OOo").

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Now that the Open Document formats have been implemented in some mainstream
products (OpenOffice, KOffice, etc), I would love to see the ability for MS
Office to support these formats.

We don't want to have to upgrade to a newer version (2006) for the document
support, so hopefully we can keep 2003 and eventually have the ability to
open Open Document files.

Thank-you.

----------------
This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I
Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow this
link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then
click "I Agree" in the message pane.

http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...e37f1e&dg=microsoft.public.word.docmanagement

 

[Guest]

@Timothy: You commented about how Microsoft are thinkking of adding support
to their next version of Office (note the word next - not meaning next update
for MS Office 2003). Just thought I'd clear up the fact that this thread is
about support being added to existing versions, not new ones.

 

[Timothy L]

I'm sure that they would support a few older versions when and if they release it (at the least Office XP and
Office 2003).

The bottom line about Microsoft is that they only care about their next version of Microsoft Office. Besides,
Microsoft has that kind of "we'll wait and see" sort of thing. In other words, if the OpenDocument format gets
a lot of attention and potential customers steer away from Microsoft Office, then Microsoft would support the
OpenDocument format. Not to mention that Microsoft doesn't want anyone to switch away form Microsoft Office.

The point here isn't really how or what version of Microsoft Office would support the OpenDocument format, it
is when and if they will.

Microsoft probably won't mention if they will support the OpenDocument format in older versions of Microsoft
Office until they announce or release a download that enables support for it.


Anyway...
A plug-in (add-in) that will allow users of Microsoft Office to open files in the OpenDocument format is being
developed by a third party (NOT Microsoft) as we speak. It is called "OpenOpenOffice". More information can be
found here:
http://www.phase-n.com/openopenoffice/

 

[Guest]

Anyway...
A plug-in (add-in) that will allow users of Microsoft Office to open files in the OpenDocument format is being
developed by a third party (NOT Microsoft) as we speak. It is called "OpenOpenOffice". More information can be
found here:
http://www.phase-n.com/openopenoffice/

I am not interested in this complex and work-in-progress plugin - I don't
see why MS can't get off their a** and add the support. I know it can't be
hard - and for the money I have paid (over $1000 in MS Office 2003), I would
hope some of that goes to adding support. This is the reason why I am
converting all employee's to OOo - because MS don't give a crap about their
customers, and don't listen.

 

[Graham Mayor]

Microsoft will not respond to your complaints in this forum. They may not
even see them.

I don't speak for Microsoft, but I can see no good business reason why
Microsoft would contemplate doing this. You can impose whatever software you
want on your employees while you are paying their wages, but you are going
to have difficulty communicating with your customers and suppliers if you
follow this route and there are training implications to consider.

For those occasions when you do have to deal with such documents, two
possibilities have already been offered. Whether you adopt either one
depends on how badly you want to read those documents.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[Guest]

Microsoft will not respond to your complaints in this forum. They may not
even see them.

Hmm, looks like I have mistakenly believe what they are telling me. I wonder
if I have mistakenly believed them when they say that no personal info is
collected from my computer - probably true.

I don't speak for Microsoft, but I can see no good business reason why
Microsoft would contemplate doing this. You can impose whatever software you
want on your employees while you are paying their wages, but you are going
to have difficulty communicating with your customers and suppliers if you
follow this route and there are training implications to consider.

Well, the kind of people we are, we make converting our own employee's and
other companies employee's a part of our business plan.

For those occasions when you do have to deal with such documents, two
possibilities have already been offered. Whether you adopt either one
depends on how badly you want to read those documents.

Hmm, actually, 3:
- 1. Convert and resend files
- 2. Use plug-in
- 3. Ask users to switch to OOo
For us, OOo is much worth the effort, because we can at least trust the OS
community rather than MS.

It is a real shame MS don't read these comments - otherwise they would learn
how crap they are and how they can improve their company 10 fold.