Open XML translator lets Microsoft Word speak in open source

by Adam Turner

Saturday, 03 February 2007

The open source community has released a plugin allowing Microsoft Word to work with documents created by its open source nemesis OpenOffice.

In an acknowledgement of the international push for open standards, Microsoft funded work on the Open XML translator but did not contribute any code. It allows Microsoft Word 2007 to open and save documents created in Open Document Format, the open source document standard used by OpenOffice.

With the look and feel of Microsoft's Office suite, OpenOffice offers much of the functionality of Word, Excel and other Office applications. Some people consider OpenOffice a threat to Microsoft's efforts to convince organisations to upgrade to Office 2007. Version 1.0 of the Open XML Translator is available from SourceForge.net and work is underway on plugins for Excel 2007 and Powerpoint 2007.

Microsoft has created its own format, Open XML, in response to Open Document Format and work is underway on a Open XML plugin for OpenOffice. Microsoft has fast-tracked the process of making its Open XML an ISO standard, to establish its credibility against Open Document Format - which was accepted as an ISO standard last year.

Submitting formats to the International Organisation for Standardisation is currently a popular tactic in format wars due to the global backlash against de facto standards. Adobe Systems intends to submit its ubiquitous PDF format to the ISO as part of its ongoing format war with Microsoft and Vista. Adobe made the announcement this week - the day before Microsoft's competing format XPS (XML Paper Specification) shipped with the new Windows Vista operating system and Office 2007 software suite. Formally known as Metro, XPS has been described as a "PDF killer" intended to break the PDF's decade-long role as the de facto standard for printable documents.

While Microsoft's document formats are often the de facto standard, international concern is growing over such reliance on one vendor and its proprietary formats. As such, OpenOffice has a user base as diverse as the French parliament, the Israeli Ministry of Commerce and the Singapore military.

While Microsoft describes Open XML as open source, it's not licensed in a fashion that proponents of open source licensing would recognise as being open. Rather than granting users open source-like rights to the format, the license consists of a promise by Microsoft not to sue those who use the format. It also leaves the standard open to drop in proprietary code.{moscomment}

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