ODF 1.2 Is Approved

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."

While working on the spreadsheet format...

[damn_registrars]

It would have been great to see them do some work towards importing excel macros into openoffice. Obviously there are ample good reasons not to do it; but plenty of reasons in favor of it as well. And really, anything that encourages MSOffice -> openoffice migration should get some attention, IMHO.

Re:file type

[arth1]

There are many people around here who still think that openoffice is a java-dependent product of Sun Microsystems that is determined to takeover your entire desktop and consume absurd amounts of resources in order to do the simplest of imaginable tasks.

That's because they are right. Well, it's Oracle now, but still:

# yum install openoffice.org-calc
[...]
Resolving Dependencies
[...]
Installing:
[...]
  java-1.6.0-openjdk x86_64 1:1.6.0.0-54.1.9.9.fc14 updates 26 M
[...]
Installed size: 418 M
Is this ok [y/N]: N

418 MB just for the calc? Seems bloated to me. And seems like it requires java too.

Re:file type

[Rhapsody Scarlet]

My main question here would be why the hell are you still using OpenOffice.org anyway? I've been on LibreOffice for ages now, and (in Debian at least, as far as I can tell) LibreOffice Calc does not require any sort of Java runtime.

This would make sense given that one of the aims of LibreOffice is to "reduce Java dependency [documentfoundation.org]".

Re:file type

[hedwards]

Anybody that cares about the documents functioning properly in the future or when exchanged with random other people doesn't use the MS Office formats. MS does go to lengths to maintain backwards compatibility, but ultimately it's still risky to use different versions to work on a file.

Re:Compatibility

[a_n_d_e_r_s]

if you by office mean microsoft office - so is the support for 1.0 so that is already ancient and useless since Microsoft deliberatly made sure their implementation differ from all other implementations of ODF 1.0

The part that was made incompatible was the spreadsheet part where everyone else just used microsofts office format - and microsoft used something else....

Microsofts implementation shows that they are intentionally trying to undermine the standardardisation on ODF by making incompatible versions.
Microsofts normal embrace and extend practice. So stop buying Ms office and get a real office package witch full support of ODF1.2

Many office packages - except for Microsoft office - supports ODF1.2 already.

Re:Yes but

[Bert64]

So both formats have flaws, but there are some key differences...

The guys behind ODF are actively trying to fix their flaws (hence this story)
The guys behind OpenOffice aim for compatibility instead of blindly implementing a spec that is flawed and noone else follows

MS could easily have implemented the same extensions to ODF, and they had already done so in the earlier ODF plugin they sponsored, which was BSD licensed so they could have simply reused the code. Instead, they chose to go out of their way to write a new implementation which they knew would be incompatible with everyone else.
They only implemented ODF at all to try and pull the wool over people's eyes, it was the bare minimum to try and fool those who were demanding open standards, while still trying to maintain their lock-in.

Re:file type

[hawkinspeter]

The "If it's not done the "True Microsoft way", I'm going to infect your computer with malware" attitude that keeps Microsoft office software in its own little ghetto.

Resorting to vandalism doesn't get anyone to adopt the software. Writing excellent software gets people using software.

As a highschool teacher.

[Anonymous Coward]

I have two wishes.
Polynomial regression on ods
Write code to convert mathematical formulas from word to odt and back again.
When these two wishes have been fulfilled. Libreoffice will be ready for use in high schools.