[ubuntu-uk] Example of difficulty to Convert MS users

[Sarah Chard]

On Wed, 2011-06-08 at 17:12 +0100, Gordon Burgess-Parker wrote:
> The major problem (IMHO) in using Linux instead of Windows for
> ordinary 
> users, is the difficulty with Office 2007 and 2010 documents, which
> are 
> becoming more and more
> Email and web browsing is dead easy - it's the incompatibilities of 
> OOXML format documents with the Office suites available on Linux
> (Open 
> Office, Libre Office and all the others) that would seem to be the 
> problem, particularly as a) prior versions of Office are now being 
> replaced by 2007 and 2010 in which OOXML is the default and b) it
> would 
> seem to be the norm that Windows hides extensions of known file types
> by 
> default now such that the average user doesn't even KNOW they are
> saving 
> and opening OOXML files...

that's why it's really important to keep pushing  open document formats 
It's the incompatibility issues which are a real problem not just for
ordinary users but for take up by many businesses and in local
government where problems using the Open Source office apps  create a
huge stumbling block to their adoption.
It needs political will to really change things and force the use of
open formats but in the mean time we all need to keep on making the case
If you haven't taken a look at it, it's worth listening to Dr Wrights
talk at HLUG's open source day in March as this is exactly what he was
talking about
http://www.youtube.com/user/HerefordshireLUG

It's also the reason why it's vital to get schools and colleges at least
thinking about teaching and using FOSS and Linux as has been discussed
in other posts.

Sarah