Advanced Search

Choose a Category                  Announcements Audio Desktop PCs Digital cameras & camcorders Displays Environment Events Film, TV, manga & anime Gaming GPS Home theater Household Internet Interviews iPad iPhone Japan Mobile computing NOT Japan Off Topic Peripherals Power R&D Robots Software Storage Toys Transportation Video Wireless WTF?

Choose a Month                     October 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005

 Get the stories!  Or just the comments...

• Home
  • Top
  • Archives
  • Categories
  • Tags
  • Sites We Like
• About & Contact
• Datefinder
• Buy J-Gadgets!
• Snapp! PR
• Advertise!

Microsoft to integrate OpenDocument for Office
Tweet

Microsoft announced Wednesday the creation of the Open XML Translator project, so its Office suite will support the open-source OpenDocument Format (ODF).

The move comes in response to government requests for Microsoft products to be compatible with ODF, such as the national governments of Belgium and Denmark, and the state government of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

The company said that the next edition of Office — Office 2007, now expected early next year — will include menu options for XML, ODF, and Adobe’s PDF formats. The ODF support would include Office’s three main formats, namely Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

A prototype of the first translator for Word’s 2007 version will be posted Wednesday on SourceForge.net, a popular site for open-source development. It can be found here

http://sourceforge.net/projects/odf-converter

and is available under the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) license, designed for open-source use and revision of software without licensing fees, within general guidelines and principles.

A final version of the Word translator will be available in late 2006, with Excel and PowerPoint translators to follow in 2007, Microsoft said. The translators will be backwards compatible, and users will be able to download free compatibility packs for “older versions” of Office, although Microsoft did not specify what the earliest version of Office it will support is.

Partner companies will author the translation tools, naming French IT company Clever Age, India’s Aztecsoft, and Germany’s Dialogika as collaborators for the Open XML Translator.

Microsoft had previously opposed ODF, with Office format documents still being the world’s most popular.

ODF is the OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) OpenDocument Format, designed to create an open-source document standard. ODF has received support from open-source advocates including Sun Microsystems.

— Steven Schwankert (IDG News Service)

05:25 PM Mark Hiratsuka • Permalink
Add a comment | More DWT | Get a cool job in Japan! | Follow us on Twitter

Date much?

Japanese gadgets from Tokyo Zakka! — Perfect gifts for your nerdiest friends back home!

C'mon - let's hear it...

Spammers beware: Any links in comments to commercial websites will be treated as paid advertising and will be charged at rate of $10 per link per day. Invoices will be sent to the idiots who hire you for so-called SEO jobs. All you good people will always keep it real, of course - thanks!