Posted on 10/05/2005 7:42:38 AM PDT by N3WBI3
Opinion: It's not coincidence that after Massachusetts made it clear that it would support open formats, Microsoft is now going to include PDF in the next version of Office.
What is Microsoft up to, anyway, with its sudden plan to finally support PDF?
It wasn't announced by Bill Gates loudly to the world at the Professional Developer Conference a few weeks ago. It also wasn't proclaimed to the Microsoft faithful at its recent Most Valuable Professional Global Summit.
No, instead, Microsoft quietly squeaked out the news on a Saturday afternoon in Microsoft Office Program Manager Brian Jones' Weblog.
Could it be that it's because Microsoft is backing its way into ever so reluctantly supporting an open format after Massachusetts decided that it would only use office suites that supported open formats like PDF and OpenDocument?
It certainly looks that way to me.
For all of its talk about being an innovator, Microsoft is really just a follower.
PointerClick here to read more about Microsoft's decision to build PDF support into Office 12.
Sometimes, of course, the company is a very, very reluctant follower. It took Microsoft's leadership forever to live down the fact that they had initially dismissed the Internet. Now, I see Microsoft slowly and painfully embracing open standards.
Mind you, this move is just a beginning. I recently pointed out that it would be trivial for Microsoft to add OpenDocument support to Office.
I don't see that happening anytime soon now though.
With PDF support alone, Microsoft can still try for Massachusetts government contracts without having to add OpenDocument.
Well, until StarOffice, OpenOffice.org and WordPerfect's support for OpenDocument force Microsoft's hand anyway.
After all, PDF is much more of an end-result format than one that most people actually want to edit in. As OpenDocument and the applications that enable it gain more support, Microsoft will find itself forced into supporting it too.
Now, some might say that this is just Microsoft giving the people what they want. Many users have been asking for a PDF option from Microsoft since Adobe Acrobat 4 appeared in 1999.
eWEEK Special Report: Office Politics
But, if that's all there was to it, then why was Microsoft banging the drum for its own PDF substitute, Metro, only a few months ago?
Still others might say that is part and parcel of Microsoft's recent efforts to compete against Adobe in other ways: Sparkle vs. Flash, Acrylic vs. Photoshop and so on.
To which, I say, "Why now? Why announce it in such a subdued way?"
No, all those other things play a role, but at the end of the day, Microsoft felt that it must make at least a concession to open standards by adopting PDF.
After all, it's not like Massachusetts is the only entity that is seriously considering making supporting open standards a requirement for its software purchases. Massachusetts was just the first to make it official.
Microsoft would love it if it could make everyone stick to its proprietary formats. That forces customers to keep buying its products. But it can't. And, much as Microsoft may hate it, its executives know it. So it is that as quietly as the company could, Microsoft is, once more, making concessions to open standards.
eWEEK.com Senior Editor Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols has been using and writing about operating systems since the late '80s and thinks he may just have learned something about them along the way. He can be reached at sjvn@ziffdavis.com.
They buy new ones in cycles, and I got it not long after it was released a few years ago. I'm due for a newer one in the next year or so. Crunching web logs and compiling apps takes quite a while on it, but otherwise it's fine.
Well, after all, a bunch of long-haired pot-smoking moron communists implemented it in OpenOffice, so how hard could it be?
</Sarcasm>
If you read between the "times," management doesn't waste money. The laptop is fast enough for my normal work, and the big dual screens let me work fast.
Faced with the facts, you go into denial. It's easy to verify -- download OO and see for yourself. But I'm sure you'll come up with a reason for not doing so, therefore allowing yourself to remain in denial, wishing your usual lies were true.
You're the one who implied it's possible to get the original from a hash, not me.
They did it because crytographic algorithms are best when widely peer-reviewed. They did it because nobody would trust the algorithm if they couldn't study it for themselves. In cryptography we're talking science, and the scientific peer-review process is needed to vet algorithms.
Trying to twist my words? I said the truth that "security through obscurity is no security." That is, you have no security if you rely on obscurity, if the obscurity is your security. Given that obscurity doesn't gain you much, if anything, I said that you shouldn't spend much, if any, time on it and put it towards an acutal more secure algorithm. Obscurity can also be bad in that it can give the user a false sense of security, which is dangerous.
You need to work on those reading skills.
Exactly. There was no evidence MA was going to switch, but they did. Sorry Bush, but more and more organizations are starting to become wary of lock-in. They had the problem with IBM, didn't learn their lesson, and did it again with Microsoft. Twice bitten - once shy, government is a bit slow to learn.
Wow, we found a place to agree. Of course, Microsoft is also way behind and playing catch-up. It's all relative.
Your system is definitely faster than the one I tested on. Of course, those laptop hard drives slow launches immensely. A re-launch of either Word or OO Write was almost instant though.
You just don't get it. This is capitalism, and the customer rules. The customer states a requirement, and vendors line up to provide that requirement in order to get the business. Pretty simple.
Microsoft, and its spokesmen and slaves, just don't want to lose the lock-in and therefore the Office monopoly.
Looks like spyware and bloatware heaven. Probably the type of thing that automatically sets itself to pre-load everytime you turn on your computer, steal all of your file associations without asking, and put 2-3 hundred AOL shortcuts on your desktop.
LMAO!
You don't even know what capitalism is! Try profits rule. Customer service is just one aspect of making a profit.
Your socialist underpinnings are starting to show.
Try going back to Business 101. The customer has the money. The customer chooses who will get his business. Your profits depend on the customer choosing YOU.
Boot time from power off is influenced by the BIOS and by the hard drive, but XP is much, much faster than any previous version of Windows.
Program loading is also influenced by the hard drive.
The $900 system I would build for a business user would have the cheapest AMD64 currently available and a WD Raptor drive. The Raptor adds about $75 to the price of the machine, but makes program loading almost instantaneous. Business users have nothing to gain from a separate video card. I have yet to see a business computer fill a 20 gig drive, much less a 40 or 80.
This price would give you XP PRO and Office retail packages with real CDs. A little more than WalMart prices, but not outrageous.
In capitalism, the customer rules. You have to please the customer in order to make that profit. Unless of course, you're a monopoly, and then you don't have to care what the customer thinks. Microsoft is just starting to realize it can't operate in that mode anymore.
Trying to cover for your buddy huh? Profits are key and the only rule of capitalism. Everything else is just a means to make a profit. Customer's don't rule...profits do. Sure good customer service will help, but what if it costs me more than I make to give the level of customer service requested? If your at least educated past the 3rd grade you'll know you'll go out of business.
Still LMAO...customer's rule in capitalism. That was funny. And then you try to defend that ignorant statement. I guess that makes you even dumber.
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