linuxaudio.org

On Tue, 2 Nov 2004 12:52:13 -0500, Joe Hartley  wrote:

quoted text
>

> > How did M$'s proprietary Office file formats every break anyone's

> > system overnight? I'm not saying I like M$. I just don't understad

> > your comment. They are a closed standard, but they appear to be a

> > standard none the less.

>

> Every time a new version of M$ Office is released, it uses new file

> formats that are not backward compatible with older versions of Office.

> It's very, very commonplace after a release of Office to run into the

> situation where a Word file is emailed to someone still on a previous

> version, and confusion ensues because the recipient can't open it.

> It's possible to save a document in an older version of the Word format,

> but there are (still!) a great many users who are unfamiliar with how to

> do that.

As a user I completely agree with you, however...
When people (or companies) choose to use tools with 'closed standards'

they are subject to whatever happens with those standards. The folks

who maintain closed standards are under no obligation (until directed

by a court) to keep their standards constant. And being that they are

closed standards they are under no obligation to divuldge what they

formats are.
This breakage is not a M$ only problem. Apple formats change. They are

no more willing to divudge those. So do Adobe, DigiDesign, Corel,

Steinberg. It's the nature of invoation within a market economy.
Heck - Ardour session file formats changed and no one offered to fix

my sessions from two years ago. I got feedback (ahead of time) that

they were 'subject to change' and that's that. How are open standards

any different for a user? (I understand a programmer might want to

handle this, but user types don't, or in my case can't, so how's it

any different.)
Joe - I'm not arguing with you. Just making a point. OSS does change

things and break things too. It happens alot, and it's a weakness of

the untested, wild west environment that is Linux. It's not only the

evil guys in Redmond that do this stuff...