Tuesday, 11 October 2005
Thinking More about Office Support for OPML
Category: Tech
Posted by: jd
Being an insomniac is a real drag sometimes.... I went back to bed and something occurred to me. It may be obvious; it may be insane (or perhaps inane). Regardless.... Here's what occurred to me:
OPML by its very nature is close to pure information. It's structured, but that structure does not define what the information is. That information just is what it is -- in outline form. I don't think this is true when working with other applications, such as the Microsoft Office suite. When you use Microsoft Office, the first step is not creating content/information; the first step is pre-determining what that information is. If you determine that it is a presentation, you use PowerPoint; if it's data, you use Excel or Access; if it's text, you use Word. Having made that decision, THEN you create the content/information which cannot help but be influenced by the environment in which you are working. Sure, you can move your information from one Office app to another and thus turn what used to be text into a presentation, or what used to be a presentation into data. But you are turning one thing into another. Again, not so with OPML because the editor doesn't define what your information is. At least that's how it seems to me at 4:30 AM.
The ability to create and manipulate information outside of the constraints of task-specific applications was something that I had hoped OneNote would provide. But it hasn't really. I'll have to do some actual work in OPML and see....
But OPML alone is not going to give you the tools you want/need to refine and deliver your information to its intended audience; the Microsoft Office suite will. So, not only do I want to be able to import OPML files into PowerPoint so that I can deliver my information as a presentation, I want to be able to import them into Excel so that I can work with the information as data. And I want to be able to import them into Word so that I can work with the information as text. And I want to be able to import them in Outlook so that I can work with it as posts or as calendar entries or journal entries or....
Maybe OPML support is already planned for Office 12. Maybe the Scobleizer has already talked about it, and I missed it. I'll look after a brief nap.
OPML by its very nature is close to pure information. It's structured, but that structure does not define what the information is. That information just is what it is -- in outline form. I don't think this is true when working with other applications, such as the Microsoft Office suite. When you use Microsoft Office, the first step is not creating content/information; the first step is pre-determining what that information is. If you determine that it is a presentation, you use PowerPoint; if it's data, you use Excel or Access; if it's text, you use Word. Having made that decision, THEN you create the content/information which cannot help but be influenced by the environment in which you are working. Sure, you can move your information from one Office app to another and thus turn what used to be text into a presentation, or what used to be a presentation into data. But you are turning one thing into another. Again, not so with OPML because the editor doesn't define what your information is. At least that's how it seems to me at 4:30 AM.
The ability to create and manipulate information outside of the constraints of task-specific applications was something that I had hoped OneNote would provide. But it hasn't really. I'll have to do some actual work in OPML and see....
But OPML alone is not going to give you the tools you want/need to refine and deliver your information to its intended audience; the Microsoft Office suite will. So, not only do I want to be able to import OPML files into PowerPoint so that I can deliver my information as a presentation, I want to be able to import them into Excel so that I can work with the information as data. And I want to be able to import them into Word so that I can work with the information as text. And I want to be able to import them in Outlook so that I can work with it as posts or as calendar entries or journal entries or....
Maybe OPML support is already planned for Office 12. Maybe the Scobleizer has already talked about it, and I missed it. I'll look after a brief nap.
