LibreOffice calls out Microsoft for using "complex" file formats to lock in Office users
LibreOffice calls out Microsoft for using "complex" file formats to lock in Office users
Another day, another complaint about Microsoft from LibreOffice. This time, LibreOffice accuses Microsoft of intentionally using overly complex XML to define documents and lock in users.
LibreOffice has been on the offensive lately, taking the time to call out Microsoft and its practices whenever it can. Now, it is at it again, accusing Microsoft of "intentionally" using "unnecessarily complex" file formats to achieve user lock-in with its Microsoft 365 (Office) documents.
For those who don't know, XML is a markup language that programs like Microsoft 365 and LibreOffice use to structure and define documents.
As LibreOffice puts it:
An XML schema comprises the structure, data types and rules of an XML document and is described in an XML Schema Definition (XSD) file. This tells the PC what to expect and checks that the data follows the rules. In theory, XML and XSD together form the basis of the concept of interoperability.
The two office suites take very different paths here. LibreOffice uses the OpenDocument Format (ODF), an open standard meant to be controlled by no single company. This format gives us files like .odt for text and .ods for spreadsheets.
Microsoft, on the other hand, created its own Office Open XML (OOXML) to support every feature in its own software, giving us the familiar .docx and .xlsx. What's interesting is that both formats are really just ZIP archives. The easiest way to verify this is to take a .docx file, rename it to .zip, and decompress it. This will show you the guts of a Microsoft 365 document.
As LibreOffice notes, XML is supposed to function as "a bridge," but Microsoft is weaponizing its own schema by making it so "complex that it becomes a barrier rather than a bridge." LibreOffice compares it to a railway system where the tracks are public, but one company's control system is so convoluted that no one else can build a compatible train, making it almost impossible for others to compete. Passengers don't realise they are being held hostage by these technical hurdles.
It's been a know problem since they hijacked the ISO comitee. That was years ago.
I wonder how intentional that is. Like, I can imagine it simply being the result of the nightmarish way stuff gets done at huge companies like MS. But I can also imagine it being shenanigans by scumbags.
It's nok like MS hasn't actively sabotaged efforts for the open standards, followed up by subtly mess up their own conformity. As long as MS Office is considered a requirement, alternatives will be explicitly forbidden because of "the formating gets messed up if you use OpenOffice". When the truth is it is MS Office that introduces the issues.
Very intentional. My recollection is that they hijacked the ISO committee to adopt their 6,000 page specification(!). This 2008 article briefly touches on some of the controversy, but I recall reading about the drama on Slashdot for months: https://www.ip-watch.org/2008/04/01/office-open-xml-officially-approved-as-international-standard/
Only way this is getting sorted is if the EU force them to release proper documentation.
Don't think can happen, but governments can enforce OpenDocument usage. If enforced for companies interacting with the government, they might just fully switch rather than use the two, with cascading effects.
I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you're referring to as Linux/LibreOffice, is in fact, GNU/Linux/LibreOffice, or as I've recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux plus LibreOffice.
Go away this is needless noise and didn't add any value to anyone
The docx and xlsx formats are still soo much better than it was during the Word Perfect days. You had to pay so much attention to which version of each program you were using to transfer a file.
Yeah both those docs are basically a zip file with an xml metadata file and everything else as other ingestible data. While still shitty when its proprietary, definitely way better than the wild binary formats of old
I still have a bunch of these files sitting in my cloud and have to do the work to spin up old coreldraw versions in a VM just because I feel like preserving them as a hobby:
Hah. Silicon era "in my day we had to walk to the fountain for water uphill both ways". I see you, brother Old.
I should get WordPerfect 5.1 running in a DOSBox. The bluescreen nostalgia is a thing.
On topic, I'm surprised this is news now. It feels like it's been a commonly accepted fact since the 90s. I don't know what the conversation is supposed to do. If Google hasn't been able to reverse this with an actually competitive alterantive I'm not sure the open source nerd community is going to make much of a dent.
Of course if it was up to Google there'd be no file format at all, you'd just have documents live in their servers, pay for the right to store them and never have an offline file to access beyond printing a PDF.
As a side note, I care less about format compatibility, but I would really appreciate it if LibreOffice switched the default text to white when opening a xls in dark mode. Doesn't seem like it'd need Microsoft support for that one.