Ariya,

I wasn't referring to the quality of the available filters.  They can
probably use improvement (what can't?), but that applies equally to the
competition.

I was referring to the fact that, from the user's perspective, the
filter is not 100% integrated with the application.  The user wants to
take a Microsoft office something.doc, open it in kword, and have any
massaging of the data occur "under the covers".  That is why I said it
is a perception issue, not a technical issue.  Technically, who cares? 
In terms of convincing the ordinary user to switch word processors, it
becomes important.  Really it is a user interface decision, and not a
technical decision at all.

As an engineer, I like the filter architecture.  As someone who tries to
convince people that kword is a viable alternative, the _visible_ part
of the filter architecture is a problem.  People are lazy, and they
already know how to use Microsoft word, and they will at first look for
an excuse to go back to it.

On Fri, 2002-11-01 at 22:40, Ariya Hidayat wrote:
> 
> >  I think this is a result of the separation of the filters from
> > the tools that use them.  Ironically, a good engineering decision
> > (modularity of the software that translates among formats) produces a
> > negative marketing effect.
> 
> I'd like to give my comment. KOffice filter architecture has nothing to do 
> with the filter quality. After being involved in developing a few filters for 
> KOffice, you can have my word that developing filter for KWord, KSpread, or 
> KPresenter is not difficult. However, it's just time consuming, not to 
> mention that we're lack of developers. 
> 
> MS Office import filter maybe imperfect but hey, this filter is simply 
> "younger" than its OO counterpart (even now Werner and David are working to 
> improve Word import). OTOH, at the moment there's no way OO can open Abiword, 
> MS Write, AmiPro, and WordPerfect documents, which KWord can handle more or 
> less.
> 
> That said, filter quality of KOffice might not be as expected, but it's 
> because no real significant effort has been put there. AFAICS filters 
> developers are all working on their spare time (which could be really limited 
> in many cases) and even KOffice only has David and Laurent working full-time. 
> So, in terms of achievements vs manhours, I would say that KOffice is just 
> amazing !
> 
> 
> "KDE has no future"
>          -- de Icaza
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-- 
Seth Kurtzberg
M. I. S. Corp
480-661-1849
Pager 888-605-9296, or 6059296@skytel.com


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