KDE Joins ODF Alliance

UseFree.org writes "The position of the OpenDocument Format (ODF) was strengthened today when the free & open source K Desktop Environment (KDE) announced that it has joined the ODF Alliance. KDE developer David Faure has been instrumental in developing the OpenDocument standard, which is already implemented in KOffice, KDE's office suite. Faure says: 'The fact that KOffice provides an independent implementation of the OpenDocument file format, and was able to take part in its specification, proves that OpenDocument is actually a standard, not just a rubber stamp on Sun's OpenOffice file format. What makes an open standard is not merely approval by a committee, but independent implementations.'"

hmm.

That's neat, but what does this really change?

Re:Obligitory NEDM Reference

But this does affect the author of the grandparent post. If ODF is a credible standard that is widely supported, a KOffice user can mail an ODF much like today people mail Word documents (and it will be just as annoying).

Safari?

I would really like to see ODF become more popular.

Could this mean that Safari, which is based on Konqueror, might be able to at least view ODF files?

I think ODF could take off if Macs could effectively use them. I don't see any disadvantage to Apple at all to include KOffice or OpenOffice so that Apple users have something to use even if they don't buy (or more likely, pirate) MS Office.

Also, Google/GMail should support this format! Why not? They allow viewing of MS Word documents as HTML, why not an .odt? That would help a lot.

koffice

well koffice was the first product to announce support for odf and the second to implement it, this is a given.

Food for thought

I wonder if this means gnome is going to join the Horde.

Apple Says goodbye to AppleWorks, Hello to...

Open Office? If you noticed, none of the Intel Macs have Apple Works, could the successor be open?

KOffice is growing up

I tried using KOffice a couple of years ago and was pretty much underwhelmed.

Now, with version 1.5, it's pretty much as their site says, "the most comprehensive office suite in existence". From what I have seen, the only place where they are still lagging is in import/export filters. Otherwise, while they are still playing catch-up with OpenOffice, Abiword, and Gnumeric in some areas, they are evolving and improving much faster than the others. Let's just wait for version 2.0!

Re:KOffice is growing up

It is true that KOffice is pretty much "the most comprehensive office suite in existence" and the direction it is going is really exciting. Yet, as it is right now KOffice is too buggy to even consider using it in a semi-reliable way. It has improved a lot but it still has a lot of annoying and painfully obvious bugs which get in the way of simple work like making a simple spreadsheet.

So yes, KOffice is going the right direction but it still has a whole lot to do to become a decent office package.

Why in Linux section?

KDE is just open source desktop shell - it is not tied to Linux in any way. Sure it is mostly used on Linux but such clasification (KDE = Linux) is just opposite to spirit of free software. KDE is free so you can run it on any ststem - be it Solaris, Linux, *BSD, OSX, Windows whatever.

If I like KDE and dont like Linux I could possibly run it on *BSD.

It is strange that /. editors seem to not uderstand *principle* rules of free software.

Other DE's should follow along.

Good thing to see that KDE has joined the alliance, but I sure hope the other major and minor desktop environments follow along. It would especially be very nice to see some lightweight DE's like Fluxbox, Xfce, Icewm, etc. to join. After all, isn't the chance to install linux with a graphical client on very old PC's one of those main advantages to consider installing linux? Might as well make sure then when you recycle those PC's, they follow the same standards. I think a good kernel version and standards like these make all the difference.