Re: JAPAN Says NO to MICROSOFT Monopoly

On Jul 16, 12:22 pm, booker <inva...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Mon, 16 Jul 2007 05:20:57 -0700, CitizenJimseracwrote:
On Jul 16, 7:40 am, "Roger" <roge...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"CitizenJimserac" <Jimse...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:1184583920.679561.91330@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

On Jul 16, 12:57 am, "Roger" <roge...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"CitizenJimserac" <Jimse...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

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On Jul 15, 8:54 am, "Roger" <roge...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"CitizenJimserac" <Jimse...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:1184503259.832882.133310@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Under new guidelines from Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and
Industry, Japan's
agencies will begin to seek bids
from software vendors whose products
support internationally recognized open standards. This would
include
the ODF (Open Document Format)
whose adaption Microsoft has
been forcefully trying to prevent
by lobbying United States state
legislatures.

Japan is apparently the first
Asian country to make this logical,
but at the same time bold move
and they are to praised
for realizing that public documents
do not belong encased in private
proprietary document formats
under the control of one company.

Does anyone know if the latest
versions of Microsoft Office Word
even will even open an .ODF document?

I no longer use Microsoft products -
I use Open Office the superiour
and fully FREE alternative
which DOES open documents
and spreadsheets of Microsoft's
products.

You said:

"encased in private proprietary document formats under the control
of one
company"

Then you said:

"which DOES open documents and spreadsheets of Microsoft's
products"

Which one is the lie?

CitizenJimserac

Neither. As far as I know Open Office does open documents and
spreadsheets
in Microsoft formats. You don't mean to imply that because
Microsoft
released the specs for these
(or more likely, the Open Office
people had to figure them out
for themselves, NOT an easy task)
that they are non proprietary, do you?

Another lie, unless you don't know what "proprietary" means.

Which one is it?

And now back to the question -
does the latest Microsoft Office
handle Open Document documents?

CitizenJimserac

You've lost me - I'm not trying to
lie so you explain what it is I'm
saying wrong and I'll learn.

Do you mean that because
the formats are proprietary
that Open Office should NOT
be opening these documents?
That would be contrary
to the Microsoft anti-trust
settlement, I would think,
but if that is your argument then point made.

If others can access them with the same ability as Microsoft, they're
not really proprietary, are they?

Ah hah! Valid Point! Granted.

Don't give up so easily! Your original statement is correct if you
consider that Microsoft fully controls those formats (can secretly move
the goalposts whenever they want to, once they're out from under court
supervision) and that the issue is about the future of public documents,
not just the present.

The fine point regarding
my use of the word
"proprietary" has no affect on
the main argument which is that
Japan has recognized that the time has come
to open software to truly open formats
that cannot be controlled, manipulated,
or used by any one company to its advantage.

When will America and other countries
and do the same?

Thanks
Citizen Jimserac

.

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