

Google's filing  (Source: Scribd)








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RE: Hmmm....
By bug77 on 11/2/2010 1:08:29 PM , Rating: 3
Complete interoperability is near impossible between rival companies.

That's why OpenOffice went ahead and developed a standard for document format: so that anyone may read and write them.
Interoperability is not impossible, it's just that it's not in a company's best interest to offer the customer the option to switch, that's all.

RE: Hmmm....
By Luticus on 11/2/2010 2:09:27 PM , Rating: 2
you are correct in this. interoperability is not impossible, just near impossible. when one company finds a better way of doing things they tend to patent that so that other companies can't use it. thus putting up a huge road block to interoperability. This is one great thing about open source and the gpl, it tends to ensure technology is available to all as long as they don't use it for profit. open source also puts up road blocks though because then people who actually want to make money on their work tend to steer clear of it. So all these great and talented devs go to places like Microsoft and Apple where they make tons of money but their code becomes proprietary. Catch-22s are fun!

RE: Hmmm....
By bug77 on 11/2/2010 4:21:23 PM , Rating: 3
Still, you open-source basic stuff and keep more intricate code proprietary. The possibility to get the best of both worlds is right there, but who will pursue it when there's so much money to be made from patenting the dumbest idea and vendor lock-in?

I mean, go tell a kid that there's a way all kinds of computers can talk to each other, talk to phones and home cinema systems, but there's no way you can edit a document without MS Office. The kid will laugh in your face, that's how crazy the situation really is.

RE: Hmmm....
By sviola on 11/3/2010 10:56:10 AM , Rating: 2

But then, OpenOffice does not open all ODF files correctly...Btw, MS Office does support ODF files better than OO.o and OOXML (MS Office standard document) is an open standard as well.

