OpenXML, ODF, and Drinking the Kool-Aid at Microsoft
So I've finally embraced this blogging thing. I told myself that after Techready4, which is a MSFT conference for the field, I would blog about all the non-confidential stuff I learned about. So far the topics I've gone to have been nothing short of amazing! My favorites thus far have been about OpenXML, ODF, and the Office suite. It was a real eye opening set of presentations that really drove home the point that people in the online community have no idea what they are talking about when it comes to XML document standards. I'm sure I'll be getting alot of flames for that statement, but its true. As an avid reader of Slashdot for about 10 years, I've found the recent FUD about ODF and OpenXML particularly disappointing. ODF is not a mature standard, it doesn't even work right! The dumbest thing is that if government mandates the use of ODF, it'll pretty much force them to use Microsoft Office since most of the other suites can't even make ODF 100% compatible between suites. Rob Weir and company like to claim that ODF has been implemented in Abiword, Google Docs, KOffice and OpenOffice, but last time I checked, a document format is supposed to look the same regardless of the app it is opened in. ODF fails miserablely. This also defeats the point of adopting ODF legislation. Even before I joined Microsoft, I thought OpenOffice sucked, honestly buy a Mac and use Pages. OpenXML, on the contrary, is a fully specified format that will ensure compatibility between suites. Between Microsoft Office, Apple Pages, Corel, Novell OpenOffice, NeoOffice, you have 99.999% of the market. Let's be honest, who is IBM kidding? apparently the world I'll be following up this post with interviews on why ODF and OpenXML has become such a politically charged topic. Stay Tuned!
Other stuff I've expanded my knowledge about was Windows Longhorn server, Google, Microsoft Exchange, and Microsoft Expression Suite. Many of my friends make fun of me because since joining the company, I've done a complete 180 in my view of Microsoft. My collegue Woody says you have to "drink the Kool-aid" when you come to Microsoft. His statement was profound. As an Apple employee for two years, I became a diehard. As a member of the Church of Jobs, I actually went into my final interview on Microsoft Campus carrying my iBook G4 to give a 10 minute presentation (I didn't even use Powerpoint hehe). Suffice it two say I owe a lot to Jobs and Apple Keynote. The interviewers didn't even see it coming. When I did finally get the offer (3 hours later), I took it while telling myself that I'll never use Windows for home use. (I even used Entourage for my corporate email...it's shit).
Three months later, I couldn't resist the Kool-Aid mmm grape. I still whince sometimes going back to Windows imagine mosquitos the size of your fist, it's painful when coming from OS X in all its glory. I still do all my photos and video editing on my Mac, and I still use iTunes. But stepping back and looking at the bigger picture, it excites me to know that Vista is significantly going to change the user experience for people not willing to jump to Apple. The out-of-box experience of Vista is well-rounded and complete unlike XP which required additional apps and downloads to be able to do all the things consumers want to do with their computer i.e. email, internet, pictures, videos, sharing. The digital-lifestyle Windows OS is here! The funny thing with all this is that I barely touch my iBook now, I'm so busy with work, and when I say work, I mean email, and when I say email, I mean Outlook. Outlook is evil.
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And now to finish, taking a play from Jon Stewart's playbook, "here's your moment of Zen" Ellen Feiss
