ODF 1.2 Is Approved 110
An anonymous reader writes with news that the Open Document Format 1.2 specification has finally been approved.
"The most important improvement to ODF 1.2 is the newly built spreadsheet support. The old format was buggy and had a lot of legacy problems. Therefore the new spreadsheet module was written from scratch. 'A complete clean room implementation of the spreadsheet formula was built,' said [Michiel Leenaars, director of the Internet Society Netherlands]. ... Another important improvement in ODF 1.2 is the support for Resource Description Framework (RDF) metadata, a W3C standard model for data interchange on the Web. ... Instead of only being able to link to a URL, RDF allows users to link text in documents to other things like a V-Card or a calendar item. Companies can use this technology to structure their workflow."
Re:file type (Score:4, Informative)
The size depends on what you (and/or) your package manager choose to install. To quote the FAQ "For certain features of the software - but not most - Java is required. Java is notably required for Base." http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/system-requirements/ [libreoffice.org]
Re:file type (Score:1, Informative)
1. The parent post is from hairyfeet, a paid Microsoft astroturfer. Last time he submitted his resume to anyone was when he was hired to whore for karma and post Microsoft propaganda here.
2. HR departments accept PDF just fine, and there is no such thing as "resume scanning software". Recruiters insist on Word, so they can remove your contact information and send a copy to every company they know. This is the only thing I have ever seen recruiters doing.
Re:Compatibility? (Score:4, Informative)
Actually both implemented the standard...
The standard did not define how to store spreadsheet formulae, so OpenOffice being the first implementation was forced to create their own extension to store this data. Most other implementations of ODF, including the microsoft-sponsored ODF plugin copied the OpenOffice extension in order to maintain interoperability...
MS however ignored this, and now created their own incompatible extension... Technically in compliance with the standard, but in practice they went out of their way to exploit flaws in the standard to break interoperability.
Re:file type (Score:4, Informative)
How much space does an install of excel take?
Good question!
Disabling everything but Excel x86_64 from a Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 DVD states 1.39 GB. I suspect that some of that is because of non-selectables always installed with the Professional Plus version, but that it's still horribly bloated.
OO may be bloated in its own right, but not when you compare it to the competition..
But what is the competition for OO.o calc? The several-hundred-dollar and closed Excel?
Or free and open spreadsheets like gnumeric, which weighs in at around 14 MB, and IME[*] has better compatibility with Excel than OO.o has?
[*] At least up to but not including the changes mentioned in the submission. I have both installed, and frequently have to open Excel-created sheets that my boss or other colleagues send me, and sometimes make corrections and send them back. gnumeric is less problematic, especially when people have been "fancy" and used smaller fonts or different colors. YMMV, but for me and the work I do every day, gnumeric is the competition, and has so far won.
Bloat is bloat, whether it comes from Microsoft or Sun/Oracle/OSS-coders. Whether it has less bloat than the competition doesn't reduce the bloat.
"Our soup only has half as much urine in it as the competition" is not a winning argument.