Search Results for: odf

The complexity of the OOXML format is linked to its design and was deliberately created to make the format more difficult for non-Microsoft software developers to implement. Compatibility issues are caused by a veritable “maze” of tags used even for the simplest content, which binds users to the Microsoft ecosystem in the first example of standard-based lock-in. The DOCX case To demonstrate the difference in complexity between the XML schemas of Writer and Word text documents in the ODF and OOXML formats, I used two classic English theatre plays: William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest. I downloaded the text versions of these works from Project Gutenberg — a library of classic texts for which US copyright has expired — and deleted the introductions and conclusions added by Project Gutenberg, without making any other changes. I then repeated this process for both documents. I copied all the text and pasted it, without any formatting, into two newly created blank documents. For Writer, I used the template that I usually use for unstructured documents; for Word, I did not use a template. This means that, in Writer, the XML schema contains information about the template (margins, paragraph

The post, published on 18 July 2025, which explained why an artificially complex XML schema, such as that used by Microsoft 365 (formerly Microsoft Office) files, is in fact a subtle tool for locking in users because it is invisible and impossible to detect without in-depth study, was picked up by various IT media outlets. This was probably because it explained a problem that everyone faces without having the tools to solve it in a way that was accessible to everyone. Some of these articles sparked a debate between those who supported my thesis and those who defended Microsoft, the true champions of lock-in, who claimed that the complexity of the XML schema was not artificial but rather a reflection of the complexity of the documents themselves. This complexity relates to various factors, such as size (number of pages), structure (text, tables, graphs and images), content management (data entry by multiple people and systems) and customisation through metadata. These factors influence the management, classification and storage of the document itself. The different approaches to complexity management between ODF and OOXML However, the ODF and OOXML formats handle this complexity in completely different ways. In the first case, the XML schema