Microsoft reissues Mac OOXML converter

Stephen Withers
Friday, 21 December 2007 05:33

Business IT - Technology

A new beta of the Microsoft Office Open XML File Format Converter for Mac has appeared on Microsoft's web site, but there is no indication of any functional changes.

What is new is that version 0.2.1 pushes out the expiry date to December 31, 2008. The previous release, 0.2.0, expires on December 31, 2007.

The converter is currently able to translate .docx and .docm (Word), and .pptx, .ppsx and .potx (PowerPoint) files so they can be opened using Office 2004 or v.X.

There are no guarantees that it will provide 100 percent fidelity for every document. Office 2004 11.3.4 or Office v.X 10.1.9 (or later) are required.

Microsoft warns that the converter should not be installed if Office 2008 is already on the system "as it might cause problems with Office 2008 applications." That's not really an issue, as Office 2008 provides native support for OOXML.

A final version of the converter for 2004 and v.X is expected sometime after the release of Office 2008 in January.