Redmond (WA) - Microsoft is bending to the forces promoting the Open Document Format (ODF) and announced that it will be offering an open-source add-in for Office 2007 applications that will be able to translate its Open XML formats into ODF.
In a surprise announcement, Microsoft said that it will create tools to build a "technical bridge" between its own Office Open XML Formats and the Open Document Format (ODF) in response to government voices that requested such capability in Microsoft's next Office suite. However, the "translator" won't be a native feature of the software, but will be offered as a freely available open-source plug-in, that will have to be downloaded by users. In addition to the default Open XML file formats, the 2007 Microsoft Office system will include a new menu option that points users to add-ins for PDF and XML-based formats such as the XML Paper Specification (XPS), and now ODF as well.
In fact, the press release issued late Wednesday made it clear that not only is the third-party support of ODF a late addition to the software, but it is also treated as a feature expansion for its own Open XML formats. "By enabling this translator, we will make both choice and interoperability a more practical option for our customers," said Jean Paoli, general manager of interoperability and XML architecture at Microsoft, in a prepared statement. "We believe that Open XML meets the needs of millions of organizations for a new approach to file formats, so we are sharing it with the industry by submitting it, with others, to become a worldwide standard," he said.
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