[PSNUG.org News] [JoelOnSoftware] Why are the Microsoft Office file formats so complicated?

[Randy Grein]

Not sure I buy the excuses - the most glaring is about 'handling  
embedded objects'. You probably don't recall but about 10 years ago  
Apple, IBM and a few others had a nearly-successful spec called  
opendoc. Rather than build 'one application to rule them all' a simple  
framework held components that did specific jobs - spell check, word  
processing, spreadsheet, graphics, etc. VERY powerful and potentially  
a revolution in software where the data was king. The problem was that  
applets were so easy to write it didn't take a software house to do  
so, a single programmer could release a module that was every bit as  
good as one provided by Apple, IBM - or Microsoft. The mix&match  
nature made it easy for the user to grab what they wanted, and the  
software was cheap because it was easy to write and had real market  
competition. Naturally the big software houses stayed away in droves  
because there was little profit compared to releasing a monolithic  
program.

Point is, the specs were rather simple. If a single programmer could  
handle an applet that resulted in this kind of rich document, why is  
the Office file spec so complex?
Randy Grein, Master CNE, CCNA

On Feb 19, 2008, at 3:46 PM, Brandon Fouts wrote:

> If you thought this 379 page document for binary file formats for  
> Microsoft Office (97-2003) is complex,
> then consider the Microsoft OOXML proposed "standard" which is 6,000  
> pages long - ECMA 376
>
> some details and objections:
> http://www.grokdoc.net/index.php/EOOXML_objections
>
> If you start to get your head around this MS file format complexity,  
> surely you'll really appreciate OpenDocument format.
> And yet another reason to use Open Office and choose OpenDocument  
> file format where possible.  Open Office saves/reads about 60  
> different file formats - including most MS Office formats.
>
> The below article will also give you insights as to why legacy file  
> formats can be such a BIG problem. And therefore WHY you should  
> convert those older files while you still can - or at least decide  
> they are obsolete and not worry about it.
>
>
> On 19 Feb 2008 06:45:07 -0800, Joel On Software <fogcreek at response.whatcounts.com 
> > wrote:
>
> Last week, Microsoft published the binary file formats for Office.  
> These formats appear to be almost completely insane.
>
> Read the whole story at Joel on Software:
>
>    http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2008/02/19.html
>
> Quick announcement:
>
>    * FogBugz 6.1.9 is shipping, for Windows and Unix.
>    http://www.fogcreek.com/FogBugz
>
>
> --
> Joel Spolsky
> joel at joelonsoftware.com
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