Mailinglist Archive: opensuse (3627 mails)

[Paul Abrahams <abrahams@xxxxxxx>]

I'm currently dealing with the following problem: I have a
document I'm going to be creating that I have to distribute
to a number of people, most of whom aren't particularly
technically oriented and (I have to assume) aren't using
Linux and aren't going to.   I hate to resort to using an MS
Word file, but I really see no practical alternative.   (No,
I'm not going to go down in flames as  a Linux evangelist in
this context.)

But the pickle I'm in made me think of a neat way to use
Microsoft's own "embrace and extend" strategy against it.
Suppose the MS Word format were to be adopted as a FIPS
(Federal Information Processing Standard).   That would
imply, among other things, that (a) the format was
completely documented and available for use by anyone, and
(b) that Microsoft could no longer change it unilaterally.
If it's a de facto standard, then let's make it a de jure
standard!

That, of course, would be great for Linux.   It would mean
that Star Office, Koffice, and any other contenders could,
with confidence, process the documents that the rest of the
world is using, and it would break the MS monopoly on Word
processors.

I wonder what would be necessary to bring this about.

Paul