From koffice Sat Sep 30 00:34:25 2000 From: Jacques Chester Date: Sat, 30 Sep 2000 00:34:25 +0000 To: koffice Subject: Re: KOffice compatibility X-MARC-Message: https://marc.info/?l=koffice&m=97027916106636 On Sat, 30 Sep 2000, Ken Meyer wrote: >=20 > Hi! Hello. > However, I like the ability of StarOffice to > import and export MSOffice files. This is an > absolute necessity for me, I am not the filter guy; but my understanding is that most basic formatting from 97 and 2000 can be imported. Tables are a continuing nightmare, being fiddly in both 97 and more fiddly in 2000. Advanced features (such as revision tracking) are not supported[1]. > and, considering > that with version 6.0 the StarOffice desktop > will be optional, I am leaning strongly in > that directions.=20 Well here's the thing. Sun have hinted that SO6 will be a rewrite, or close to. That means that the 6.0 release is at *least* 1-3 years away, with much Mozilla-esque heartache in the middle. At least Sun have cut straight to the rewrite! In the meantime, KOffice has those years under its belt, having commenced for KDE 1.x and now becoming "flagship apps" (contrast killer apps) for the KDE 2 development model (KParts, DCOP etc). The real difference between KO1 and SO6 are: a) The SO6 object model is bonobo, ie, mostly vapourware. KO1's object model is KDE2, which is largely functional and approaching release. b) SO6 is vapourware, "press-releaseware". It does not exist except in a few documents. KO1 is still alpha-beta, but it exists and is somewhat usable. The movie-trailer version is that KO has the headstart. SO6 won't be released for some time yet. No point waiting for it. Depending on the complexity of your documents, I'd go with KWord. Hope this helps. > Ken be well; JC. [1]: Shawn, how hard would it be to develop a revision management object for KDB? I'm not familiar with KOffice's file-handling, but perhaps it'd be possible to drop in some kind of CVS object as the filesystem. The same object could also be used by KDevelop etc.