*BSD News Article 66123


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From: michael@memra.com (Michael Dillon)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.os.linux.advocacy
Subject: Re: Historic Opportunity facing Free Unix (was Re: The Lai/Baker paper, benchmarks, and the world of free UNIX)
Date: 19 Apr 1996 14:41:14 -0700
Organization: Memra Software Inc. - Internet consulting - http://www.memra.com
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References: <4ki055$60l@Radon.Stanford.EDU> <4l2u61$fdg@solaria.cc.gatech.edu> <4l4crd$nus@miso.cs.uq.edu.au> <4l69vn$jb@solaria.cc.gatech.edu>
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In article <4l69vn$jb@solaria.cc.gatech.edu>,
Byron A Jeff <byron@cc.gatech.edu> wrote:

>It is fundamental to move to an open standard, I agree, but we have to
>be able to support the monumental existing base of documents and spreadsheets
>while we transition to the next phase. We should also beat Microsoft to
>the punch be introducing a free open standard for documents and other
>files along with the tools for creating, editing and converting existing
>documents into the new format. And unlike microsoft we'll have tools
>that run under '95 and NT for these tasks.

Precisely. If we design a new document format that is both forwards and
backwards compatible as well as being completely open then anybody who
wants to can write editors and other document manipulating tools
*INCLUDING* filters and converters to transfer documents between the 
universal document format and proprietary formats like Word 6 and 7.

I have been working on these design issues for quite some time now but I 
haven't yet found anyone who was seriously interested in developping
these things further than USENET discussions.

>- Come up with a free/open file formats for documents, spreadsheets and 
>other file formats.

I started with an open database format about 4 years ago and I have worked
on a document and spreadsheet format as well. 

>Just remember folks for the average user it's all about applications.
>If you give the user the application they use all the time, they will
>not care in the least about the hardware, OS, or anything else. If you
>can do it for free, you've got 'em just as long as it interoperates with
>what they're used to.

Yup. But we have to design the application environment first before we 
build the applications. That means some serious work on file formats, 
user interface, GUI window managers, drag'n'drop, etc...

-- 
Michael Dillon                                    Voice: +1-604-546-8022
Memra Software Inc.                                 Fax: +1-604-546-3049
http://www.memra.com                             E-mail: michael@memra.com