Microsoft's Crappy File Formats
First post of the new year, and might as well make it a rant. I have been fiddling around with MS Project 2003, and wanted to get the data created in it out. Grudgingly MS have now added an XML export function to it. I say grudgingly - before service pack 1 it couldn't even read the file it had created back it without GPF'ing. SP1 seems to have cured that, but if you give it an invalid file - same GPF. Good work there MS!
Then I started looking at the file. Its pretty good, seems to have all the information in it with nice long tag names padding it out.
So why then is it 32K smaller than the Microsoft format?? XML is forcing MS to prove what we knew all along - their formats are bloated rubbish, with irrelevant information in them, just filling space.
The file sizes for completeness are:
* 240K MS Project
* 216K XML
While we're on file sizes, the reason MS WinCE phones have got a foothold on the market is because of this nefarious and dishonest policy. Before people had to pay per K sent, these larger sizes just caused harddrives to fill up. However HD's have always been on the large size compared with documents, so it tends to be other things that force the upgrade.
Mobiles, however, are extremely expensive per K sent relative to filesize. So these crappy formats are quietly lining the phone companies' pockets. And they have noticed. So now all smartphones are going WinCE, downloading huge amounts of junk with their outlook mail, and their office formats.
Openoffice formats on the other hand are small. They are based on gziped xml - you can even rename them and view them. A test I did took a 3 meg excel file and turned it into a 40K file.
So for anyone wondering why their phone bill has got so big, and wondering how to reduce it look no further than WinCE and its bloated, inefficient, rubbish data. This is the first time in a while anyone can do an apples with apples comparison, as there are now competing products out there. Pick them instead, and save money...
Then I started looking at the file. Its pretty good, seems to have all the information in it with nice long tag names padding it out.
So why then is it 32K smaller than the Microsoft format?? XML is forcing MS to prove what we knew all along - their formats are bloated rubbish, with irrelevant information in them, just filling space.
The file sizes for completeness are:
* 240K MS Project
* 216K XML
While we're on file sizes, the reason MS WinCE phones have got a foothold on the market is because of this nefarious and dishonest policy. Before people had to pay per K sent, these larger sizes just caused harddrives to fill up. However HD's have always been on the large size compared with documents, so it tends to be other things that force the upgrade.
Mobiles, however, are extremely expensive per K sent relative to filesize. So these crappy formats are quietly lining the phone companies' pockets. And they have noticed. So now all smartphones are going WinCE, downloading huge amounts of junk with their outlook mail, and their office formats.
Openoffice formats on the other hand are small. They are based on gziped xml - you can even rename them and view them. A test I did took a 3 meg excel file and turned it into a 40K file.
So for anyone wondering why their phone bill has got so big, and wondering how to reduce it look no further than WinCE and its bloated, inefficient, rubbish data. This is the first time in a while anyone can do an apples with apples comparison, as there are now competing products out there. Pick them instead, and save money...
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