From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,92c39a3be0a7f17d X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-12-12 13:48:48 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!netnews.com!xfer02.netnews.com!newsfeed1.cidera.com!Cidera!cyclone.socal.rr.com!cyclone3.kc.rr.com!news3.kc.rr.com!typhoon.san.rr.com!not-for-mail Message-ID: <3C17D0C8.126D694A@san.rr.com> From: Darren New X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.77 [en] (Windows NT 5.0; U) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Future with Ada References: <9v57u1$mfb$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <3C163AAB.1C8EEA69@san.rr.com> <9v5et8$pfd$1@nh.pace.co.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 21:49:27 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 66.75.151.160 X-Complaints-To: abuse@rr.com X-Trace: typhoon.san.rr.com 1008193767 66.75.151.160 (Wed, 12 Dec 2001 13:49:27 PST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 13:49:27 PST Organization: Road Runner Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:17866 Date: 2001-12-12T21:49:27+00:00 List-Id: Marin David Condic wrote: > The problem is that Micro$oft uses "MS-Word-Compatibility" to kill their > competition. As soon as you can suck up an MS-Word file and spit one out, > they go and change the format and you're forever playing catch-up. Not a > good thing. Well, not for MS's competition, no. > Where is the problem? As soon as you try to sell it to an ad executive, CEO, or other non-technical person, and explain that they can't read the documents made up by people in other companies, or perhaps even other departments. Nor can they send the document. Nor is it compatible with the add-ons that other folks use. Etc. I'll repeat - if it doesn't read & write MSWord files, it won't be popular enough to be a killer app. I also suspect you underestimate just how much spif really is in MS Office already. Maybe if MSOffice ossifies and you can actually catch up on a feature-by-feature basis... But I think it would be more effective to find something *new* to do, where you can start small and still have a chance of being popular. -- Darren New San Diego, CA, USA (PST). Cryptokeys on demand. You will soon read a generic fortune cookie.