Word specs were actually released - was Re: AbiWord 0.9.2

[Jeff Mings]

Actually, M$ has released the specs to Word, and Excel, I believe.  I 
don't have the URL, but this was referenced on a trustworthy news site 
(probably /.) that contained the link to the info on M$'s own site. 
 This question of closed file specs comes up a lot, and I don't want 
Linux users to be seen as misinformed rabid detractors of M$, when we 
are certainly very-well-informed rabid detractors of M$.  ;)

-Jeff Mings


W. Wayne Liauh wrote:

> Since Word uses a proprietary format and Microsoft never releases its 
> spec (I never could understand why our government allows such a 
> proprietary format to become a standard), my experience is, no filter 
> does a satisfactory job.  For simple documents, the coversion is 
> usually OK.  But if your Word documents contain heavy formatting, such 
> as tables, headers/footers, text boxes, etc., then the conversion 
> usually fails.
>
> Let me re-phrase my question, why do we allow our government to adopt 
> a such proprietary format to become a standard?
>
>
>