[LINK] Apple beats Microsoft at its own Open XML game

[Kim Davies]

Quoting Eric Scheid on Monday August 13, 2007:
| 
| But it was iWork's ability to handle the Open XML file format -- the
| new native format for Microsoft's own Office 2007 application suite --
| that Michael Gartenberg of JupiterResearch talked about.
| ... 
| Ironically, one of those who praised iWork's handling of the Microsoft file
| format was a program manager for Office 2007. "[iWork '08] reads the Office
| Open XML files with very high fidelity," said Brian Jones on his company
| blog.

It is hard not to agree with the arguments against the adoption of
OOXML as an ISO standard for the substantial variety of deficiencies
that have been enumerated on this list. However one of the arguments
is that the OOXML format is not easy, or even impossible, to implement
faithfully. The fact that Apple was able to churn out a reader -- which
is the hard part of implementation -- in about six months is quite an
impressive feat. It begs the question how much of the specification they
implemented, and how it treats some of the poorly documented aspects of
OOXML.

kim