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Thu, 20 Oct 2005

OpenFormula

Looks like the OpenFormula initiative is going to restart with the goal of improving the interoperability of spreadsheets (different implementations and versions). The traffic got off to a fast start and we've quickly hit an impasse. How comprehensively should we define the evaluation mechanism for conforming spreadsheets ? To my mind any file format that claims to be portable must calculate the same results with different versions/implementations. Differences need to be explained. Others seem to think that the calculations are just for display, akin to different kerning in a word processor.

Microsoft finds the discussion amusing, and claims that their lovely new office 12 formats don't have this problem. I can't check that because the schemas come with a GPL incompatible license. However, I would be very surprised if MS included an appendix listing all standard functions and rigorously defined their behaviours.  

Spreadsheet Proctologist