OpenAlternativesToClosedFileFormats

Here is a table listing open alternatives to closed formats

Please note that certain formats are not only proprietary, but have licensing fees if you wish to write a program that 'views' or creates that type of image. (e.g. GIF)
We are most certainly providing alternatives to those types of file formats!

(this page and wiki is a collaborative effort, so feel free to add rows to this table, epecially if you're looking for an alternative to a proprietary file format)

Type of File Closed Format Alternative Open Format(s) Comments

Formatted text; maybe w/ images MsWord (.doc) OO document format, docbook? format, .txt, rich-text, TeX source, .html Most documents can just be plain-text, html, or rich-text.

Data in a spreadsheet (may include images or graphs) MsExcel? (.xls) OO spreadsheet, .gnumeric format Please don't put a a single list of {names, books, etc..} in an Excel file! put it in a plain-text file

Presentation (of slides) MsPowerpoint? (.ppt) OO presentation format, html most presentations can be turned into html, and almost EVERY computer can parse html... :)

Portable documents on many platforms Adobe PDF? PostScript? (.ps), .dvi, there are free (pdf) authoring tools on most Un*x systems, but let's investigate other options, ok?

audio media formats .wma, .mp3, real, .ogg (ogg vorbis?) The company who owns the mp3 format want to charge money for each program that can encode or decode mp3s. Use Ogg instead!

lossless image formats .gif (unisys) use .png (portable network graphic) Unisys is not playing nicely -- so tell them to go away (http://www.burnallgifs.org)

lossless image formats .bmp, .tiff, ?? are these formats proprietary ?

Type of File	Closed Format	Alternative Open Format(s)	Comments
Formatted text; maybe w/ images	MsWord (.doc)	OO document format, docbook? format, .txt, rich-text, TeX source, .html	Most documents can just be plain-text, html, or rich-text.
Data in a spreadsheet (may include images or graphs)	MsExcel? (.xls)	OO spreadsheet, .gnumeric format	Please don't put a a single list of {names, books, etc..} in an Excel file! put it in a plain-text file
Presentation (of slides)	MsPowerpoint? (.ppt)	OO presentation format, html	most presentations can be turned into html, and almost EVERY computer can parse html... :)
Portable documents on many platforms	Adobe PDF?	PostScript? (.ps), .dvi,	there are free (pdf) authoring tools on most Un*x systems, but let's investigate other options, ok?
audio media formats	.wma, .mp3, real,	.ogg (ogg vorbis?)	The company who owns the mp3 format want to charge money for each program that can encode or decode mp3s. Use Ogg instead!
lossless image formats	.gif (unisys)	use .png (portable network graphic)	Unisys is not playing nicely -- so tell them to go away (http://www.burnallgifs.org)
lossless image formats	.bmp, .tiff,	??	are these formats proprietary ?

RobinsonTryon - 17 Oct 2002