Re: [LINK] [NZ] AA dumps Open Office, buys Microsoft for ‘compatibility’

[Marghanita da Cruz]

Howard Lowndes wrote:
> 
> 
> Marghanita da Cruz wrote:
>> Kim Holburn wrote:
>>>
>>> On 2007/Jul/18, at 3:44 AM, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote:
>>>> AA dumps Open Office, buys Microsoft for ?compatibility?
>>>> Microsoft Office is not cheaper, but it is almost impossible to work 
>>>> out the actual cost of open-source, says CIO
>>>> By Randal Jackson
>>>> Computerworld
>>>> Auckland
>>>> Monday, 16 July, 2007
>>>> http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/tech/A6AB17B34B1BA81ECC2573160079BFBC 
>>>>
>> <snip>
>>>> but that it was almost impossible to work out what open-source was 
>>>> actually costing because of issues such as incompatibility and 
>>>> training.
>>>
>>> Well wouldn't that be his job?  To work out costing?  It's not that 
>>> hard.  You certainly can work out what the licensing costs of MS 
>>> Office are.  The costs of incompatibility and training are the same 
>>> for MSOff upgrades as for Oo.
>> <snip>
>> The incompatibility problem is most likely that if AA people send OO 
>> documents/spreadsheets, in (ODS/ODT) formats, to MS users outside the 
>> organisation, the recipients can't read them.
>>
>> As an OO user, I assume the rest of the world is using MSWord and 
>> email MSWord
>> format documents - though I am contemplating using PDF or maybe HTML.
>> Unfortunately text only emails don't handle tables very well.
> 
> Perhaps you should put a note in the covering email, some thing like:
> 
> "The attached document complies with ISO/IEC 26300:2006 and is 
> accessible by all applications that support that international standard."
> 
> 
And while I was quoting and using international standards, I could solve the 
problem entirely by send the email in X.400 format :-(

m
PS for those who have never heard of x.400 see <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X.400>
-- 
Marghanita da Cruz
http://www.ramin.com.au
Phone: 0414 869202