[odf-discuss] News on MS pluggin

[marbux]

On 10/15/06, Alex Hudson <alex at stratagia.co.uk> wrote:
>
> marbux,
>
> marbux wrote:
> > Here's how Jean Paoli put it:
> >
> > "The Office Open XML file formats aren't a standalone file format.
> > Rather, they build on the rich functionality of the binary file
> > formats that have traditionally been a part of Office applications."
> > <http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2005/nov05/11-21Ecma.mspx>.
>
> I don't read Paoli's statement as saying anything about the
> implementation of Office 12. I think he's just saying that the OpenXML
> is strongly similar to the binary format, which we already know.
>
> I'm afraid I still don't believe that they convert XML to binary (other
> than, obviously, loading it into memory) - do you have any source which
> specifically states that? For one thing, if they did that, the XML could
> _never_ even touch the binary for loading speed, which we know is very
> important to Microsoft.
>
> Sorry for the delay in answering. I caught up on my sleep last night,
slept a full 12 hours. :-)

I didn't realize this would be so controversial. Unfortunately, I've got an
NDA on my best source of relevant information. So probably the best I can
offer as a public source is a lack of a denial by Brian Jones. See my
comments at <
http://blogs.msdn.com/brian_jones/archive/2006/09/21/764988.aspx>.

To this layman without access to the code, it would seem to make most sense
were OOXML written and read from the same interfaces in the apps that the
apps use to read and write the binary formats. But my understanding is
otherwise, that a conversion to and from the binary formats is involved. My
statement that the reason is the apps' brittleness is my own conjecture,
based on a mountain of evidence from Microsoft's Knowledge Base that serious
bugs (including data loss) in Word stay unrepaired in version after version.
See e.g., <http://www.llrx.com/features/word.htm>.

I would not be saddened to learn that I have it wrong. It's far more
important to understand what's really going on.

Best regards,

Marbux
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