I am glad to see that accomplishment! I downloaded the AbiWord OSX version and opened it to take a look. My hope was that I could use it to read and write SXW files, but not yet...
Options are always good. In open source, each project helps its neighbor's survival, like aspens' intertwined roots supporting each other to stand against the wind.
Joined: May 25, 2003 Posts: 4752 Location: Santa Barbara, CA
Posted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 1:03 am Post subject:
One of the original motivations for the dual-licensing of StarOffice/OpenOffice under SISSL/LGPL (I think...not being on the inside of course...) was precisely the file filters. StarOffice had at the time, and still has, some of the most compatible file filters for translating MS Office files. Office is so far entrenched that, in order to effecitvely undermine it from a business point of view, a company first needs to remove its proprietary formats as the standard. If forwards and backwards filters for those formats are made public for either open source or closed source (SISSL) programs to leverage, one of the most major arguments for retaining the proprietary solution goes away...the need to interact with and maintain legacy file formats. File formats are where the revolution needs to start.
Three years from the first public OOo release, I do have to admit, the strategy has paid off for Sun. M$ is taking notice
Unfortunately, other OSS projects haven't yet hopped onto the bandwagon and reused the OOo filters in their own projects. Granted, it's a difficult process, but with the latest updates to KOffice and AbiWord the adoption of the OOo format and its filters, by extension, is beginning to take hold.
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