Slashdot Log In
Microsoft Office 2007 SP2 Released, Supports ODF Out of the Box
Posted by
timothy
on Sat May 02, 2009 02:33 PM
from the file-formats-rule-the-world dept.
from the file-formats-rule-the-world dept.
shutdown -p now writes "On April 28, Microsoft released service pack 2 for Microsoft Office 2007. Among other changes, it includes the earlier-promised support for ODF text documents and spreadsheets, featured prominently on the 'Save As' menu alongside Office Open XML and the legacy Office 97-2007 formats. It is also possible to configure Office applications to use ODF as the default format for new documents. In addition, the service pack also includes 'Save as PDF' out of the box, and better Firefox support by SharePoint."
Related Stories
[+]
Office 2007SP2 ODF Interoperability Very Bad 627 comments
David Gerard writes "Microsoft Office 2007 SP2 claims support for ODF 1.1. With hard work and careful thinking, they have successfully achieved technical compliance but zero interoperability! MSO 2007sp2 won't read ODF 1.1 from any other existing application, and its ODF is only readable by the CleverAge plugin. The post goes into detail as to how it manages this so thoroughly."
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Full
Abbreviated
Hidden
Loading... please wait.
Great (Score:4, Funny)
Now we're gonna get the swine flu spread all over from the flying pigs.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Embrace.
Extend.
Extinquish.
Re:Great (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
First, although I don't really doubt you, do you know that Office '07 SP2 saves ODF formulas incompatibly or are you speculating?
Second, is there a mechanism to deprecate 1.1 and force Microsoft to support 1.2 if they want to continue to claim "ODF support"?
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Great (Score:5, Informative)
From Wikipedia:
"OpenDocument 1.2 is currently being written by the ODF TC. It is likely to include additional accessibility features, metadata enhancements, spreadsheet formula specification based on the OpenFormula work (ODF 1.0 and 1.1 did not specify spreadsheet formulae in detail, leaving many aspects implementation-defined) as well as on some suggestions submitted by the public. Originally OpenDocument 1.2 was expected to become an OASIS standard by October 2007 but later it was expected to become a final draft in May 2008 and an OASIS standard in 2009 and a new ISO/IEC version some months later.[13] However currently there is no final draft of ODF v1.2 yet."
Short version: you don't deserve to be modded anything better than -1 Flamebait.
Parent
Re:Great (Score:5, Interesting)
It allows them into markets they were being shut out of in europe. Plus ATM they don't have much to worry about, openoffice is clearly lagging behind and the other OSS suits while strong in some areas are significantly lacking in other. Additionally due to the lack of innovation in office suites it's unlikely that a something will take them away from number #1 spot quickly and they are unlikely to be caught off guard like they were by firefox, if they start seeing a major competitor then they can go back to their old techniques.
So while they opening themselves up to competition, they are so far ahead (in terms of market share and in some senses their product is also superior), that it's worth it in order to not get shut out of certain markets that require open documets.
Its not like this is their first effort to open up there formats either, i think they contributed to apache POI used to stand for "Poor Obfuscation Implementation", but that's not mentioned on their website much anymore ;)) as well. There is also the iso that while not entirely open does force them to be somewhat more open.
Parent
In some senses? (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Personally, aside from the money, I find having to buy and keep track of licenses is a hassle. I find it liberating to be able to just reinstall or upgrade my software any time without that hassle.
I also find OpenOffice is superior in file format backward compatibility. MicroSoft has played the file format of the week game enough rounds that even office has trouble opening its old documents. OO's import isn't perfect, but it's track record on old documents is definitely better for me lately. With ODF, i
Re:Great - but of course... (Score:5, Insightful)
Damn, good thing OpenOffice doesn't do this with .doc files. Oh wait...
Parent
Re:Great (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Great (Score:5, Insightful)
Ironically, they did it precisely the other way - they've implemented the ODF spec to the letter [archivum.info], and ignored any conformance bugs in OpenOffice (and in pretty much all other existing ODF implementations, which tend to follow OpenOffice behavior). The result is that you will have problems moving ODF documents between MSOffice and OpenOffice, but Microsoft gets to point a blaming finger at OpenOffice guys if asked.
I wonder, also, how it will affect any government tenders on Office suites. If one of the requirements is support for ODF, then Microsoft can just say that they're the only ones on the market with a fully compliant implementation, and point out flaws in OO.org...
Parent
It's a trap? (Score:4, Interesting)
Strict compliance seems to be a new Microsoft strategy: look at their dogged adherence to CSS 2.1 standards in IE8, including adding a formidable number of new CSS tests to the W3C test suite. It's hard not to suspect that they're up to something, but I don't think anyone has quite nailed what it is yet. With ODF, at least, it seems they are obliged to follow the spec to the letter.
Microsoft's strict compliance probably a good thing if it forces other developers to bring their apps more into line with the specs (although it will be interesting to see how OO copes with legacy documents while sticking to the spec).
Parent
Re:Great (Score:4, Interesting)
I guess they couldn't get OOXML working properly and decided to give in and use ODF instead.
Parent
Slashdot is turning into Windows Update (Score:5, Funny)
IE8, Office 2007 SP2. Only difference is that it works in Firefox.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
It also doubles as a Linux update manager as well. Remember when Ubuntu 9.04 was released? :)
As always, Microsoft coming late (Score:4, Funny)
Great (Score:5, Interesting)
Now having PDF as a "native" option (and , as a minor option, odf as well) without installing extra software , this is a real winner. Good work.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
M$ made a HUGE mistake not having a 'classic menu' option in Office 2007.
Re:Great (Score:4, Insightful)
M$ made a HUGE mistake not having a 'classic menu' option in Office 2007.
Why was it a mistake? Why was it a mistake to leave behind something that was no longer working as intended? 73% of all new features that the public requested were command that already existed in the programs. The menu structure clearly wasn't letting people find these features.
All you need to do is put your common commands on the quick access toolbar, hide the ribbon and you have something that looks a lot like the old menu/toolbar scenario. Don't get me wrong, I loathed the change at first. But after 2 years of teaching 2007, and seeing the feedback of users who were as equally entrenched in the old system, there is barely anyone I know who yearns or pines for the old menu.
I did try open office at home. The word processor was ok, but not robust, and the spreadsheet module would crash whenever I tried opening anything beyond a basic invoice with only sum functions. They need to work on that if they want it to be taken as a serious competitor to Excel. It is barely robust enough for a home budget file.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Yes, and apparently for Windows 7, they have finally given in to reason and dropped the classic start menu. Just because you're used to something doesn't mean it's better, it means that right now, its better for you, because you aren't familiar with anything different and potentially better. I'm sure that for at least 90% of users, once they've been using the new interface for a week or two,
Victory is ours! (Score:5, Insightful)
Small as it may seem, a major victory has been won, here.
Ever notice that the price of MS Office exceeds the price of the rest of the computer? Whole swaths of public records stand at risk, tied to a format that's both obsolete and undocumented. But, by commoditizing the document format with open standards, this has the effect of requiring Microsoft to compete on real terms - stability, usability, features, price - rather than by effective lockout through underhanded OEM de3als and shady use of their Monopoly status.
This is a very, very good thing for everybody. (Even Microsoft - if they aren't forced to compete on real terms, they will atrophy and wither, eventually losing their monopoly and going the way of DEC)
As always, the ball's not out of the park yet, we must remain ever vigilant and work to preserve a competitive marketplace....
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't know. With Microsoft at least we're dealing with one entity: in the event it is needed the government can go to Microsoft and say "hey, we need you to support your older formats better so we can ensure they're accessible and/or move them to newer ones"; there's someone definite to deal with, entrenched so they're strong to a great extent (and not likely going anywhere), with all the incentive in the world to ensure they please such requests (which when governments request something of Microsoft, req
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
You are insane. Office 2007 was a horribly slow, buggy nightmare. SP2 is wonderful, though. Finally, I don't have to deal with Outlook freezing on me for 2+ minutes several times per day.
Office 2007 was crap from the start. Only now is it even usable.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Everyone's entitled to their opinion, but my experience is the opposite. Our university department also had our lab machines upgraded to Office 2007 due to pressure from our IT personnel. It was promptly rejected by all the students and all the staff as frustrating and incompatible. Nobody liked it.
It was frustrating because commonly-used options were hidden away (no "Office classic" mode? What were they thinking?), and incompatible because there were enough changes in Excel (for example) to break tools
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
double-click the ribbon categories. they hide.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Its a myth that Office 2007 takes up more UI space than Office 97 or 2003. Office 2007 UI takes up slightly less vertical space than Office 97 out of the box. If the user displays a few toolbars, as most users do, Office 97 consumes far more space than 2007. Here is a post which goes into the detail measurements: http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/archive/2006/04/17/577485.aspx [msdn.com]
Anyways, you can always minimize the ribbon.
Re:Great (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Great (Score:5, Informative)
Perhaps you can explain to me how to do everything in Office 2007 without a mouse
You're using windows without a mouse? Ok, whatever.
Press the ALT key. Office 2007 will show you a list of shortcut keys, over every icon visible.
Parent
Re:Great (Score:5, Insightful)
I will tell you one thing that is not great about Office 2007 - lack of keyboard shortcuts.
You're trolling.
Name one -- ONE -- keyboard shortcut that went away in 2007 that you used.
Parent
Embrace... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Starting up the latest version of Ubuntu Linux, logging in and starting up OO.o is faster than starting the latest version of Windows up, without logging in and starting up MSOffice.
While leaving OO.o minimised and running Linux is still faster than Windows without MSOffice running.
In the mean time you can just do whatever you want with Linux, while you have some registry cleaning up, defragging, malware and virusscanning to do.
Then you need to update. Just go ahead with Linux but with Windows you need to r
Re:Embrace... (Score:4, Informative)
Kill X, login in the console, rmmod the kernel module, insmod the new one, start X.
Voit-lá, no reboot for upgrade of graphics card driver.
Parent
Still not free software. (Score:2, Troll)
Does your support of free software end when non-free software has the features you've come to enjoy?
Should install MsOffice 2007 (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Should install MsOffice 2007 (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re:Should install MsOffice 2007 (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Should install MsOffice 2007 (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, it's a big step up from Office 2003 where OOo could open up Word documents that Office couldn't.
I lost whatever lingering dregs of respect I had for Microsoft when writing a Word document on the Mac, and Word crashed, corrupting the saved document as well. This was in 2005. I can't even remember the last time an app crashed _and_ managed to toast the document on disk too. Probably in 80's. After I rewrote the document from scratch (in OOo, where is was so much easier to make simple table it wasn't funny, and it wasn't modal for crying out loud, why is Word modal, especially since it's in really subtle ways?!), someone suggested that OOo possibly could have opened the document since it had a reputation of not being as bad as Microsoft at their own format.
Of course, with Microsoft you're always dealing with crap you thought you'd never see again 10 years ago.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I would say open it in OOo, but since that can open MSdoc files that MS Office can't, it's probably not the best yardstick.
Re:Should install MsOffice 2007 (Score:5, Informative)
http://tools.services.openoffice.org/odfvalidator/ [openoffice.org]
Parent
I need CrossOver compatibility (Score:2)
After MS Office 2007 SP1 was never compatible to CrossOver I hope SP2 will get that soon. The shop I am working for only uses Microsoft Office 2007. They are trained to use it. OpenOffice will not work, because they would need retraining. But I need to maintain their computers. And it would so much easier to do if I could just switch them over to Linux. I also need the Service Pack, because without it the mailboxes in Outlook 2007 are limited to 2GB. Those people send and receive large Powerpoint presentati
Open Office (Score:2)
So, in all seriousness, now, aside from price (free, unless you count 'retraining) - what need for OpenOffice?
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
It runs on Linux?
Retraining will be needed only once while every new version of Office will cost something like $400. If a few clients upgrade to a new version of Office and send you stuff in an incompatible format you'll be forced to upgrade.
Re: (Score:2)
What caused Adobe to back off? (Score:5, Interesting)
Save as PDF was supposed to be a feature in Office from the beginning, but Adobe objected (legally) and forced them to pull it, so MS offered it as a separate download. I wonder why Adobe decided to drop their objection to MS putting this is Office.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Why anyone would throw down hundreds of dollars for Acrobat when they can get the same functionality from other software is beyond me.
Re:What caused Adobe to back off? (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Feature request: Make ribbon optional (Score:4, Insightful)
I am the type of user who types it first, then makes it pretty. Too often in the past going back to WordPerfect5.1 for DOS days, the darned program would try to guess what I wanted to do next and force different styles on me. i.e. bullet points.
Having to stop what I am doing and FIX the errors that computer has made is complete regression in UI design, and 10+ years later they still have not learnt.
So now all of my data input happens in nano. I use OO as needed, as opposed to more regularly.
Wrong (Score:5, Informative)
Word SP2 supports OpenDocument Text, Excel supports OpenDocument Spreadsheet, and Powerpoint supports OpenDocument Presentation
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
They put out a new version of "the box" with each service pack, and you can create your own also, with slipstreaming. [softpedia.com]