MN goes Open Source..kind of
Looks like MN will join with the other evolved state in the US and try to pass a bill requiring state documents to be created in open(read non-microsoft) formats. Please tell your legislators to support this forward thinking effort
Posted by
baci on April 5, 2006 07:15 PM | Permalink
Comments
I though open office used Microsoft formats?
Posted by: Xenolith | April 5, 2006 08:22 PM
I, too, thought Open Office used Microsoft formats - in fact, I am 99% sure they do.
Posted by: tamara | April 5, 2006 08:58 PM
yepp, you CAN save as a .doc out of openoffice ...if you need to, the default open office format (for a text document) is .odt -- all the open office applications can save as and open m$ formats, just like the gimp can open .psd
Posted by: baci | April 5, 2006 09:08 PM
Slashdot has post about this. Some of the more insightful comments shed some light on the topic. The main point of this switch is to move to a format that will still be good for centuries to come. No such guarantee with proprietary formats.
Posted by: Xenolith | April 5, 2006 11:39 PM
Even an Open Office format won't guarentee that you will be able to open your document in the future.
Any documents I have hanging around that I want to keep, I save in a plain 'ol .txt format.
Posted by: Bad Cat! | April 6, 2006 10:24 AM
I have one word...cuneiform
Posted by: baci | April 7, 2006 12:49 PM