Re: dia file exchange

["James K. Lowden" <jklowden speakeasy org>]

Hi Lyle,

Lyle wrote:

> The other group (of which I am a member) use Dia but need to give the
> diagrams in editable format to superiors who use Visio.  This is really what
> I was after.  I agree that open file formats are better, but to gain
> acceptance, any new software needs to be able to work within the existing
> standards, proprietary or not.

Well, there's more than one school of thought on that.  It's possible to
cooperate your way to complete irrelevance.  And some people would point out
that if Dia were good enough and popular enough, Visio would find a way to read
a Dia file. So it might be better to focus on Dia.

As a technical matter, I don't think it's hard to make a seamless Visio-Dia link
with Ole; I think it's *impossible*.  Some information will be lost.  If we had
Visio's cheerful endorsement and support, we could come close.  Without it,
about the best you're going to be able to say is, "At least I didn't have to
redraw it by hand."

Look at Word/Wordperfect, Excel/Lotus.  Competing formats don't coexist, they
extinguish.  Look at Linux/Windows (you have to close your eyes and imagine that
one).  No bridge is as good as no bridge.

So we have to acknowledge that getting data in and out of Visio will be more
like crossing a highway with a baby stroller than like falling into bed.  Not
something, in other words, you want to do regularly, but not something you'd
want to able to do if you had to.

As a philosophical matter, I agree with Lars (And why not?  He's always
right.).  Helping Dia users read stuff into Dia is a Good Thing.  It's one of
those ends-justifying-the-means questions.

Of course, once the import feature works, we're more than halfway home.  To
export to Visio, you'd just have to compile it backwards. :)

Regards,

--jkl