Alright, I know this argument is old, but there's something new that I've noticed recently that supports my side of the argument that it's Open Office that screwing things up.
Whenever I open a document last saved under a Microsoft product it parses just fine under Open Office.
However, I make a slight change - a space here, a corrected spelling there, it doesn't matter, then save the document under Open Office, then exit the program.
Next, open the document, in Open Office and find that font sizes, indentations, and even font encodings themselves where italics or bold text is used are all kinds of messed up. Same if opened under a Microsoft product. This is easily repeatable and happens whenever I save under RTF file format. Haven't tested Microsoft Office DOC format yet, but Open Office ODT seems to work just fine (of course it should), but then not everyone uses DOC and/or ODT, hence my preference for RTF which should parse the same no matter what you're using.
If anyone is interested in taking a closer look, then I can provide you with raw TXT files from saves of RTF files made in Microsoft Write and Open Office Writer. Just post your email here and I'll fire it off to you.
EDIT: A little research goes a long way to answering questions.
Turns out that this has been a long-standing issue for the folks at OOo, but it could be said that Microsoft is to blame as well for keeping RTF a proprietary format (!!) and forcing others to reverse engineer the damn thing whenever they come out with a new version of the file format. Primarily they're having issues with in-line images inserted into RTF files, but apparently the issue also extends to general formating as well.
It's actually kind of a touchy subject judging from the commentary. There are some that are demanding that the issue be given a much higher priority as it would make OOo much more promotable at all levels, but there are others that think it is simply too much trouble to be bothered with as it would suck up too many resources to figure out the issue. Personally, I'm shifting more of my blame Microsoft for not making the format an open one in the first place - how can it be a universal format when you keep it to yourself?
That said, anyone know of any official channels that can be used to effectively ring MS's clue bell? Because I can't see any reason why RTF should remain a closed format.
Whenever I open a document last saved under a Microsoft product it parses just fine under Open Office.
However, I make a slight change - a space here, a corrected spelling there, it doesn't matter, then save the document under Open Office, then exit the program.
Next, open the document, in Open Office and find that font sizes, indentations, and even font encodings themselves where italics or bold text is used are all kinds of messed up. Same if opened under a Microsoft product. This is easily repeatable and happens whenever I save under RTF file format. Haven't tested Microsoft Office DOC format yet, but Open Office ODT seems to work just fine (of course it should), but then not everyone uses DOC and/or ODT, hence my preference for RTF which should parse the same no matter what you're using.
If anyone is interested in taking a closer look, then I can provide you with raw TXT files from saves of RTF files made in Microsoft Write and Open Office Writer. Just post your email here and I'll fire it off to you.
EDIT: A little research goes a long way to answering questions.
Turns out that this has been a long-standing issue for the folks at OOo, but it could be said that Microsoft is to blame as well for keeping RTF a proprietary format (!!) and forcing others to reverse engineer the damn thing whenever they come out with a new version of the file format. Primarily they're having issues with in-line images inserted into RTF files, but apparently the issue also extends to general formating as well.
It's actually kind of a touchy subject judging from the commentary. There are some that are demanding that the issue be given a much higher priority as it would make OOo much more promotable at all levels, but there are others that think it is simply too much trouble to be bothered with as it would suck up too many resources to figure out the issue. Personally, I'm shifting more of my blame Microsoft for not making the format an open one in the first place - how can it be a universal format when you keep it to yourself?
That said, anyone know of any official channels that can be used to effectively ring MS's clue bell? Because I can't see any reason why RTF should remain a closed format.