.Net? That's M$ proprietary Windoze only stuff, isn't it? So, as you
say, who cares!
Mono.
M$ Office documents use a proprietary file format. Other applications can
only read/write M$ formats because they have been reverse engineered. The
reason some M$ documents do not display properly in other apps?....
because M$ have never released the formatting used! OTOH, the OpenDocument
Format (ODF) as used by Open Office is a fully open format and has been
standardised by the International Standards Organisation in ISO/IEC 26300.
This means that *any* app which conforms to this ISO standard format will
be able to read/write ODF files. No doubt M$ will install a .odt filter
in Word so it can read OpenOffice text documents, but I wonder will they
release the formatting of their .doc files so OpenOffice can read M$
files? I know where my money on that debate is! Go to the link below for
more details on the ISO standard!
http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=20060503080915835
See answer above. It is ISO standard ISO/IEC 26300.
M$ documents are not an open format and never have been. They are a
closed proprietary format, just like M$ source code. See answer above as
to why OpenOffice can read them.