[ddma]

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/p...hemaEMEAPR.asp

... Microsoft is delivering the Office 2003 XML Reference Schemas and enabling software companies to build products that can smoothly interoperate with Microsoft Office 2003.

Documents created by iWork will be compeitable with Microsoft Office 2003 or later.

What do you think?

[osxisfun]

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...p;pagenumber=2

[ManOfSteal]

I'm excited.

[voodoo]

So it is free now. But it isn't Open Source so M$ may well introduce future features and start making people pay then. I wouldn't touch that with a cattle prod.

This is M$ we're talking about and they didn't get rich by writing cheques.

[Millennium]

I haven't heard anything about anybody but Microsoft using this format natively. An Apple-based app could easily import and export this format, without needing to use it.

If this iWork app comes into being, it will probably use RTF, just as Nisus Writer Express does. The advantage is clear: interoperability with the rest of the OS. Given that Word imports RTF with no problem (as it should: Microsoft created the format originally), this doesn't harm Word compatibility at all, particularly if the app has good Word import/export capability. In this way, Word and iWork could both import and export each other's documents, and so everyone ends up happy.

[Angus_D]

Does Microsoft even use that format natively or does it just allow export to it?

[version]

RTF is as probably not the way to go, since it isn't flexible enough for modern-day, powerful WPs.

[Millennium]

Originally posted by version:
RTF is as probably not the way to go, since it isn't flexible enough for modern-day, powerful WPs.

NWE uses it as its preferred format with little trouble. What exactly doesn't it support?

[Sharky K.]

RTF is more complete than you think.
see specifications for yourself: http://www.snake.net/software/RTF/

[olePigeon]

Originally posted by voodoo:
So it is free now. But it isn't Open Source so M$ may well introduce future features and start making people pay then.

I'd count on it.

[mchladek]

For me the key is tables. It seems as though all of my professors are obsessed with Word's table capabilities. This was the sole reason for finally breaking down and buying M$ Office: every non-M$ word processor I tried would jumble the tables to the point of being unreadable (i.e., the tabs would be completely incorrect so what should be another column would get wrapped to the next line, etc.).

And it doesn't seem as though RTF would fix this.

[Millennium]

Originally posted by mchladek:
For me the key is tables. It seems as though all of my professors are obsessed with Word's table capabilities. This was the sole reason for finally breaking down and buying M$ Office: every non-M$ word processor I tried would jumble the tables to the point of being unreadable (i.e., the tabs would be completely incorrect so what should be another column would get wrapped to the next line, etc.).

And it doesn't seem as though RTF would fix this.

If Word can import RTF correctly -and given that Microsoft invented the format, I see no reason that it wouldn't- then someone else can export it correctly.

[larkost]

Originally posted by mchladek:
For me the key is tables. It seems as though all of my professors are obsessed with Word's table capabilities. This was the sole reason for finally breaking down and buying M$ Office: every non-M$ word processor I tried would jumble the tables to the point of being unreadable (i.e., the tabs would be completely incorrect so what should be another column would get wrapped to the next line, etc.).

And it doesn't seem as though RTF would fix this.

RTF does support tables... It may be that word doesn't export this well, and many rtf viewers may not support it, but your professors could just as well be giving you rtf files, and thus not requiring you to buy software.