[Infowarrior] - The MS OOXML Smokescreen

[Richard Forno]

In an effort to win quick converts to its bid to have Microsoft Office Open
XML (MOOXML) accepted as an ISO standard, Microsoft is deprecating parts of
its widely-criticized MOOXML. But whatever the new Microsoft OOXML file
format with deprecated parts will eventually look like (if such a format
ever appears in an actual application), these cosmetic changes don¹t really
make a difference for Microsoft or the world. Neither Microsoft Office 2007
or the version after that will ever likely produce a standards-compliant
format. Besides, OpenDocument has been around now for a few years and is
becoming widely supported in industry. However, there has been no meaningful
movement from MS towards support. Actions speak louder than words.

What is described in the ECMA OOXML specification is not what is currently
implemented in MS Office 2007. The actual specification: says ECMA OOXML is
a format that Microsoft Office 2007 can *read*. Note, however, that it is
not the format that Microsoft Office 2007 is actually *writing* for example:
The Scripts, macros, passwords, Sharepoint tagshooks, DRM and other tie-ins
used by MS Office 2007 are not part of the ECMA OOXML specification. If you
try encrypting a document in Office 2007, it is no longer even a zip file +
XML at that point. There is no editor reference application for Office Open
XML, so an application can send Office Open files to Microsoft Office, and
Microsoft Office can open those files, but any edits are saved in a
different format!

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http://fanaticattack.com/2007/the-deprecated-smoke-screen-of-ms-office-open-
xml-ooxml.html