From: crude@sausa.ge   
      
   On Tue, 27 Jan 2026 13:35:54 -0500, -hh wrote:   
      
   > On 1/26/26 19:43, CrudeSausage wrote:   
   >> On Mon, 26 Jan 2026 22:44:59 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:   
   >>   
   >>> On Mon, 26 Jan 2026 15:57:02 -0500, DFS wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>>> On 1/26/2026 3:30 PM, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:   
   >>>>   
   >>>>> And yet they can produce a higher-quality distribution than   
   >>>>> Microsoft can manage with an operating budget several orders of   
   >>>>> magniture greater.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> You know better than that.   
   >>>   
   >>> All I know is, one outfit has done, not one, but *two* “emergency”   
   >>> patches for serious problems with this month’s update, while the other   
   >>> has not.   
   >>   
   >> Like I've said before, it's just a matter of time before DFS is   
   >> affected by one of these updates and potentially loses all his previous   
   >> Excel files. When his computer become unbootable or he loses tons of   
   >> data for no good reason, he might realize that Linux is not so bad.   
   >   
   >   
   > Well, MS has been known to abandon their own MS-Office formats, but this   
   > does raise an interesting question on if they're unique in doing this.   
   >   
   > For example, I can recall past advocacy claims about how one doesn't   
   > need to pay for MS-Office because their files are compatible in some of   
   > the FOSS "Office" products.  Was this a correct & true statement?   
   >   
   > FWIW, I'm guessing Open Office and/or Libre Office were likely examples.   
   >   
   > Because if that is so...   
   >   
   > ...doesn't this together then imply that the issue of MS file format   
   > abandonment is solved by simply using a current copy of OO/LO to open   
   > those ancient formats, because they never abandoned their compatibility?   
   >   
   > FWIW, I have an ancient PowerPoint that I've kept for years, as I'd like   
   > to recover to its original format:  it is available as a test case.   
      
   For me, the only way to make sure that a document written in a format does   
   not eventually get lost or suffer from incompatibility is to use a format   
   which is by default open, with OpenDocument being the only one which is   
   truly open.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)