Return to BSD News archive
Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.rmit.EDU.AU!news.unimelb.EDU.AU!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!solace!nntp.uio.no!news.cais.net!van-bc!unixg.ubc.ca!news.bc.net!felix.junction.net!not-for-mail From: michael@memra.com (Michael Dillon) Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.os.linux.advocacy Subject: Re: Historic Opportunity facing Free Unix (was Re: The Lai/Baker paper, benchmarks, and the world of free UNIX) Date: 19 Apr 1996 14:41:14 -0700 Organization: Memra Software Inc. - Internet consulting - http://www.memra.com Lines: 41 Message-ID: <4l919q$5k5@sidhe.memra.com> References: <4ki055$60l@Radon.Stanford.EDU> <4l2u61$fdg@solaria.cc.gatech.edu> <4l4crd$nus@miso.cs.uq.edu.au> <4l69vn$jb@solaria.cc.gatech.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: sidhe.memra.com Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.development.system:21544 comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc:631 comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc:3251 comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc:3072 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:17482 comp.os.linux.advocacy:45857 In article <4l69vn$jb@solaria.cc.gatech.edu>, Byron A Jeff <byron@cc.gatech.edu> wrote: >It is fundamental to move to an open standard, I agree, but we have to >be able to support the monumental existing base of documents and spreadsheets >while we transition to the next phase. We should also beat Microsoft to >the punch be introducing a free open standard for documents and other >files along with the tools for creating, editing and converting existing >documents into the new format. And unlike microsoft we'll have tools >that run under '95 and NT for these tasks. Precisely. If we design a new document format that is both forwards and backwards compatible as well as being completely open then anybody who wants to can write editors and other document manipulating tools *INCLUDING* filters and converters to transfer documents between the universal document format and proprietary formats like Word 6 and 7. I have been working on these design issues for quite some time now but I haven't yet found anyone who was seriously interested in developping these things further than USENET discussions. >- Come up with a free/open file formats for documents, spreadsheets and >other file formats. I started with an open database format about 4 years ago and I have worked on a document and spreadsheet format as well. >Just remember folks for the average user it's all about applications. >If you give the user the application they use all the time, they will >not care in the least about the hardware, OS, or anything else. If you >can do it for free, you've got 'em just as long as it interoperates with >what they're used to. Yup. But we have to design the application environment first before we build the applications. That means some serious work on file formats, user interface, GUI window managers, drag'n'drop, etc... -- Michael Dillon Voice: +1-604-546-8022 Memra Software Inc. Fax: +1-604-546-3049 http://www.memra.com E-mail: michael@memra.com