XPost: comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy   
   From: recscuba_google@huntzinger.com   
      
   On 1/28/26 14:53, Chris Ahlstrom wrote:   
   > -hh wrote this post by blinking in Morse code:   
   >   
   >> On 1/27/26 18:00, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:   
   >>> On Tue, 27 Jan 2026 15:47:20 -0500, -hh wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>>> ...has FOSS done a better job of not orphaning MS's older file   
   >>>> formats that MS themselves have now abandoned?   
   >>>   
   >>> That’s a question you can easily answer for yourself. How much time   
   >>> does it take to download and install an open-source office suite, and   
   >>> seeing what it does with your old documents?   
   >>   
   >> More time than what a Linux advocate would take, for they already have   
   >> the software installed, so just needs a test file...like this one:   
   >>   
   >>    
   >>   
   >> Their strong interest to show the superiority of FOSS means that they   
   >> should be biting at the bit for just such a golden opportunity.   
   >   
   > Huh? It's a golden opportunity to show the difficulty of following   
   > a Microsoft  specification.   
      
   Sure, but FOSS has been reverse-engineering those ancient formats for   
   years ... and the point here is that they've not abandoned the old code.   
      
      
   > And isn't PPT a hoary old format?  PPTX came to be around 2007.   
      
   If memory serves, its format is Mac PowerPoint 2, and MacOS didn't need   
   the .ppt suffix; that was appended later for better PC compatibility.   
      
   > You actually kind of make Lawrence's point about proprietary   
   > formats.   
      
   Sure, but since FOSS Apps have claimed that they were a good replacement   
   specifically because they included the ability to read MS's formats.   
      
      
   >>> It’s not a question that’s bothered me personally, because I was never   
   >>> that dumb as to entrust anything important to proprietary formats for   
   >>> long-term archival purposes.   
   >>   
   >> or ... never actually did any important work in that era.  /s   
   >   
   > You sound just like DFS.   
      
   Nah, I added the sarcasm tag.  Nether Larry nor anyone else was   
   particularly prescient to these format issues until Clifford Stoll   
   published his book on it in 1995.   
      
      
   -hh   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)