Re: [libreoffice-users] I think you could significantly improve the compression on the odt docs

2014/1/16 frank ernest <doark@mail.com>

> > Also, you should warn microsoft before their docx stuff get in the wild
> > too, as they also use the zip file format.
>
> Here I thought that some of the ideas behind opensource was that it would
> promote
> better/some kind of standards.
>
> It's ok though. There are greater problems out there then lack of
> compression.
>
> Thanks, as always.


​My phrasing might have been a bit harsh, so I'll reformulate my thoughts
on this.
One of the key point (in my opinion) when designing file formats​ is to
maximize stability and usability. It is especially true for office files,
that might be stored and reused years later. Simply using the ZIP format
with plain xml content mean that almost anything can read it without
hassle, as both are well established and well supported across a lot of
systems.

Now, one could argue that we could create a new iteration of the standard,
without messing with the existing one (that would become the "old" one).
It's true, but maintaining multiple reader/writer for each version of the
standard can get tedious, and ultimately lead to dropping support for old
files. For example, see the old staroffice and msword file formats,
recently dropped from libreoffice (if I'm not mistaken).
Ultimately, adding an iteration to an existing standard also open the
possibility of changing the interpretation of some features. For more
example, see the docx file format :).

​So, the question: is improving the compression rate (albeit not
marginally)​ worth creating a new version of the standard, with the need to
update *all* software to support it (e.g. not only LibreOffice), and bring
the risk of progressively reducing support for the "legacy" file format?

Again, only my opinion, but no; I'd rather have a file format that don't
change too often. Of course, if a large pack of features needed a large
overhaul of the file format, then so be it. But improving the file storage
efficiency by itself isn't worth it. But knowing that the files are highly
compressible (not sure about this word sorry), you could just mount a
compressed file system and store your files here :)

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