A very well put reply. This has always been a traditional problem, that
of having no standard. Come to think of it , even KDE's image viewer doesnot
read gimp's .xcf file. So kword's file format will be another one among many.
While kword will read and write to a few other file formats , this still doesnt
solve the problem.
        But as I see it , it is not a major cause of worry atleast as far as
linux is concerned. KOffice is the first full fledged office suite that is
turning heads. Sun might even cooperate with you guys for writing star office
filters , if some one requests them. Same for applix. All the other office
suites are not really used on a heavy scale. So I think let's all make KOffice
as the default standard in linux , by making it so good that others are forced
to use it for its features and ease of use. Then we shall be in a position to
form a common standard. No harm was meant for anybody , and if someone feels
hurt , I am extremely sorry.

vinny

> a better idea, i think, would be for linux folk and others outside
> microsoft to establish a common document format for word processors.
> there are close to a dozen half-done linux word processors, from
> maxwell to papyrus to siag to abiword, and much of the problem is
> that they don't any of them talk to each other. kword's native
> format, unless i'm mistaken (and i very much hope i am) will be yet
> another one alien to everything else. staroffice has its own native
> format, as do applix and word perfect, though word perfect's format
> has been around for so long it's a little difficult to quibble about
> it.

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E-Mail: Vinodh <vinny@innomedia.soft.net>
Date: 26-Nov-99
Time: 12:39:48
"Whip me.  Beat me.  Make me maintain AIX."
(By Stephan Zielinski)

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