Re: [libreoffice-users] What version?

On 08/08/14 11:15, Pikov Andropov wrote:

> I didn't know that. So if I have MSO 2007 and get a DOCX file from
> someone with MSO 10 or 13, can I expect to have trouble opening it?

Unfortunately, yes, but in a totally unpredictable way.

Sorry for the technical details, but they are necessary to understand
the situation.

Microsoft introduced OOXML (DOCX, XLSX and PPTX) in 2007, in a hurry,
because the State of Massachusetts opted for ODF (the file format of
LibreOffice).

The State IT Manager, responsible of the decision, was fired based on
false allegations published by the Boston Globe, and provided by...

The OOXML document format was not ready to become a standard, and the
fast track process (totally inadequate) changed it in a way to get to
something resembling a standard (OOXML Strict).

MS Office 2007 adopts OOXML 2007 Transitional, MS Office 2010 adopts
OOXML 2010 Transitional (different from 2007), MS Office 2013 adopts
OOXML 2013 Transitional (different from 2007 and 2010).

Neither of these formats is a standard.

OOXML Strict is supported only by MS Office 2013, while all other MS
Office incarnations will not open it (and will tell the user that the
file is corrupted).

MS Office 2013 handles OOXML Strict with a number of horrible bugs. I
have tested the Excel bugs, which make Excel unusable (and can only be
solved by rewriting the application).

In addition, if you open an OOXML Transitional and save it as OOXML
Strict the contents will be changed arbitrarily (and this has just been
confirmed by Microsoft, telling the user that is his fault and not the
software, which has been designed to work this way).

Of course, the opposite is true, so any OOXML Strict will be screwed if
saved as OOXML Transitional.

Sorry for the boring technical details, but this is the situation.

Best regards, Italo

-- 
Italo Vignoli - italo.vignoli@gmail.com
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sip italo@libreoffice.org - skype italovignoli
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