Linux.com

At the current time, Microsoft is facing an uphill battle in selling users of its previous Office suite the latest iteration, 2007, mainly because 2007 has such a radically different interface, and its native file format is incompatible with those earlier versions. While I agree that Sun should have made sure its plugin worked with 2007, or at least released a separate version for it (and I suspect there are differences under the covers that makes a one-size-fits-all solution impossible), I strongly disagree that they should have delayed the plugin for 2007 users. The vast majority of Office users have not upgraded to 2007, particularly in business (just as those same businesses have not upgraded from XP to Vista. In fact, I know of one business that has just recently gone from NT4 to 2000, with XP sitting on the shelf waiting for next year). Sun needs to supply a working ODF plugin for all versions of MS Office, and its disappointing that the current one isn't there yet, but it's not a crisis or a fatal blow to the project. Tell me that the plugin doesn't work in Office 2000, XP or 2003, and then I'll be concerned.

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