[LINK] Google imposing file conversion

[Paul Bolger]

Not sure about 'the right to convert documents to a different format'.
My understanding is that by uploading a document to Google Apps it is
being converted to their internal format - which they are presumably
licensed to do, and you will probably find that you have agreed to by
signing up for the service. The change is that when you export the
document you can no longer get it in the older MS formats. I'm not
sure why you would care. You can still get it in pdf, rtf, txt, csv
etc.

Google have renamed Google Docs as Google Drive as part of their push
to re-badge services which have obvious and logical names with stupid
ones. Google App Store is now called Google Play - although this one
may have been to pre-empt legal action from another large IT company.


On 28 September 2012 12:47, Jan Whitaker <jwhit at janwhitaker.com> wrote:
> I was alerted to this in a newsgroup this morning. What give Google
> the right to convert documents into a different format?
> Although the announcement doesn't say it does this, further testing
> by the original poster shows that it is already happening. Files
> stored as .doc are being returned as .docx. He said he has also
> noticed that Google Docs no longer appears on this gmail account, has
> changed to Google Drive.
>
>
> http://googleappsupdates.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/scheduled-release-track-features-update_26.html
>
> Scheduled Release track features update 9/25/12
>
> Released on
> <http://googleappsupdates.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/scheduled-release-track-features-update_26.html>9/26/2012
>
> No features have launched this week.
>
> The following features are intended for release to these domains on
> October 1st:
> Docs: The built-in exporting feature from Google Docs to Microsoft
> Office will now allow users to download Google documents as modern
> Office formats (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx), as opposed to the older formats
> (.doc, .xls, .ppt) that were standard in Office 97-2003. For users
> who still use Office 97-2003, we recommend installing the free
> <http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx>compatibility
> plugin from Microsoft, which will allow them to open modern Office file types.
>
> Note:
> The ability to import Office files of any format to Google Docs is
> still supported and will remain unchanged.
>
> Release track:
> Scheduled
>
> Editions included:
> Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education
>
> For more information:
> <http://support.google.com/docs/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=49115>http://support.google.com/docs/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=49115
>
>
>
> Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
> jwhit at janwhitaker.com
> blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
> business: http://www.janwhitaker.com
>
> Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or
> sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
> ~Madeline L'Engle, writer
>
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