Open source battles Microsoft in Ukraine

NewsForge.com ^ | Jun. 27, 2005 | Andrij Zinchenko

[Bush2000]

I dunno. If the moderator gets wind of the fact that you're questioning the tyranny of open source advocates, all bets are off.

[N3WBI3]

No but they force contractors (and citizens who want the data they have a right to read) to buy a product from a private entity...

[N3WBI3]

But government shouldn't be giving preference to open source software.

The government should not be given any preference to any software. But the government should also make sure the information they store and disseminate to the public is not in a closed format. Microsoft is moving towards an open standard for their word processing and spread sheet documents and this should be enough.

[Bush2000]

No but they force contractors (and citizens who want the data they have a right to read) to buy a product from a private entity...

You mean OpenOffice doesn't work all of a sudden?

[N3WBI3]

Hey you always say its document conversion is a joke, is that now out of the window??

[Golden Eagle]

I'm just trying to make sure everyone knows "there is a correlation between socialist governments and open source", as newbie (N3WBI3) himself has now admitted.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1431744/posts?page=31#31

If that's more than the board can handle, I would hope they would at least tell me up front. I'm not hard to deal with, and feel that historically more have shared my viewpoint than perhaps do now. If the rules of the board have changed, then everyone needs to know what they now are. I will continue to post as I always have, until that time.

[N3WBI3]

correlation is not causality.. Dont eat millit, after all more chicoms eat millit than anyone else..

[Bush2000]

Hey you always say its document conversion is a joke, is that now out of the window??

My opinion is irrelevant. OSS folks love to sell OpenOffice as an alternative to MS Office. So, what's the verdict: Can it successfully open Office documents (meaning your point is rendered moot) -- or not (meaning that it's a POS, and OSS advocates are full of shite)?

[N3WBI3]

It is a fine alternative for creating doc, and 95% of the time it opens word docs fine, but as MS changes their formats (as they do often) a few docs get rendered with slight errors..

(meaning that it's a POS, and OSS advocates are full of shite)?

Meaning MS keeps their s&%^ doc format locked down and does thing specifically to break interoperability... If being locked into one vendor is great microsoft is Nirvana..

[N3WBI3]

BTW I have said dozens of time the best spread sheet out there is excel, unlike you I dont bow to any one entity just the best app for the job..

[Bush2000]

Can it successfully open Office documents...or not ... ?

Scratch that. You're already on the record admitting that OpenOffice can open Office docs:

"... then again openoffice can read word docs."

So, your earlier complaint about proprietary formats was utter BS.

[Bush2000]

It is a fine alternative for creating doc, and 95% of the time it opens word docs fine, but as MS changes their formats (as they do often) a few docs get rendered with slight errors..

Let's put this in perspective: You complained about so-called "closed" formats in one breath, and then admit that a freely available alternative can open 95% of them in another. Thank you for playing. You just lost the argument.

Meaning MS keeps their s&%^ doc format locked down and does thing specifically to break interoperability... If being locked into one vendor is great microsoft is Nirvana..

And yet, oddly, OpenOffice can open 95% of them. Keep digging your hole.

[Bush2000]

BTW I have said dozens of time the best spread sheet out there is excel, unlike you I dont bow to any one entity just the best app for the job..

Which explains why nobody uses OpenOffice Calc. But, if OSS guys had their way, government bureaucrats would be *forced* to use OSS crap.

[N3WBI3]

Define OSS guys? and then please point to where they said the government should be forced to use oss..

[Bush2000]

Define OSS guys? and then please point to where they said the government should be forced to use oss..

Oh, please. Ditching your associations already? Tsk, tsk. You know damn well who these folks are.

Open source's new weapon: The law?

"Open-source software advocates will unfurl a legislative proposal next week to prohibit the state of California from buying software from Microsoft or any other company that doesn't open its source code and licensing policies."

[N3WBI3]

"Open-source software advocates will unfurl a legislative proposal next week to prohibit the state of California from buying software from Microsoft or any other company that doesn't open its source code and licensing policies."

So by opensource guys you dont mean me as I dont agree with that measure. You use news.com.com to dictate who oss guys are... gotcha

[Golden Eagle]

Define OSS guys? and then please point to where they said the government should be forced to use oss..

IT people in goverments like China, Cuba, Vietnam and Iran, where they've all madated open source software as their standard. Or even here in the US, where Democrats are trying the same thing in places like New York.

[Bush2000]

So by opensource guys you dont mean me as I dont agree with that measure.

Hey, it's great that you don't support that measure, but if you lay down with dogs, you get fleas.

[Golden Eagle]

So by opensource guys you dont mean me as I dont agree with that measure.

Your denials are worthless, you're the newbie (N3WBI3) that just created an "open source ping list" and on your inaugural day launched about 6 new threads about it. If you don't actually believe in it, why are you so adamantly pushing it on everyone?

[N3WBI3]

A ping list that draws like like flys to what you spew..