Comparisons between standards (was Re: this needs wide distribution)

[Alex Hudson]

On Tue, 2006-12-12 at 15:02 +0100, Stefano Maffulli wrote:
> On Tue, 2006-12-12 at 11:35 +0000, Alex Hudson wrote:
> > OpenDocument cannot represent all the features of an OXML file (e.g.,
> > some types of page break). 
> 
> does anybody know if there is a feature comparison between the two
> standards, ODF and OOXML?  

There isn't one which is up-to-date (some were written for previous OXML
drafts). In general, there isn't a lot more complexity per se in OXML -
there's a lot more detail in the spec., but the only really significant
feature additions are the declaration of a formula syntax and basic
functionality, and the design for import of HTML/RTF/etc. built into the
format.

http://odf-converter.sourceforge.net/blog/ and the associated test
documents are one of the best places to find the interoperability
differences (e.g., features that are difficult to convert from one to
another).

> Also, is there a legal analysis of how safe Microsoft's standard is safe
> to implement in free software?  I know SFLC analised ODF (here are the
> results http://www.softwarefreedom.org/publications/OpenDocument.html). 

Not one that I would trust. Some people say it's fine, others say it's
not. In particular, I don't think anyone has analysed it since MS made
available the Open Specification Promise, although many people started
implementing OXML since before then.

It would be nice for someone like SFLC to actually have a look. If you
do a side-by-side with the Sun patent agreement, there isn't a huge heap
of difference.

Cheers,

Alex.