Re: [tlug] Stand Up for OpenOffice!!

[Darren Cook <darren@example.com>]

>  > OpenOffice is just as bad. E.g. in the spreadsheet I format a column as
>  > a datestamp with YYYY-MM-DD. But when I click it to edit it jumbles up
>  > the numbers into some other date format. ...

> If I understand correctly, it *is* a feature.  If you want a different
> *default*, you can set LC_TIME.  If you want a different format in a
> specific document or cell, you can set it in the appropriate place.

I've set it in the appropriate place, and it works for display. E.g. I
see 2007-01-31. But when I click the cell and press F2 it covers up
2007-01-31 and gives me an input box saying "07/31/01" (or some such).

It is inconceivable to me that anyone would want to input dates in a
different format to that which they want to display them in. I.e. it
give the option to format a cell but then ignores that format setting
some of the time. That is why I call it a bug. Only if I was the
programmer who was asked to fix it would I think of calling it a feature
:-).

>  > Considering I have had to set the locale of my whole system to en_GB
>  > just to get open office to default to A4 paper size
> 
> This is also a feature.  Defaults for peripheral devices are
> system-specific, and should be taken from the environment ("locale").
> You shouldn't have to set "the whole system" either; ...

I know I shouldn't, but that is what it took to get it to work. IIRC
Open office ignored LC_PAPER. (I've not tried the past few months so it
may have been a known bug that has since been fixed; or I may simply
have been doing something wrong.)

But better than Adobe Reader: it ignores all locale variables and
doesn't offer a way to set a preference. "Letter" is the paper size
everyone wants to use by default, apparently.

>  > I find that a rather poor response: obviously specific column
>  > formatting should override locale,
> 
> What do you mean by "specific column formatting"?  

I was referring to date formats (see above), not paper size.

Darren