A Microsoft-sponsored open-source project is expected on Friday to release a translator that will convert file formats between Microsoft Office and rival standard OpenDocument, or ODF. Microsoft started the project at SourceForge last year, relying on three partners to develop the code that lets a user open and save word processor documents in two different formats. The Microsoft format is called Office Open XML (OOXML), which is the default document format in the company’s recently released Office 2007 suite. The other is ODF, which is backed by Microsoft competitors IBM, Sun and Novell.
The plug-in will work with Microsoft’s Word application, including the latest Office 2007 version as well the Office 2003 and Office XP editions, Microsoft said. Once installed, a person can open and save documents in the ODF format from Word. People can download the software, available under the open-source BSD licence, for free from SourceForge on Friday. Microsoft intends to make the software available from its own website as well, the company said.
Sorce: ZDNet
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February 3rd, 2007 at 8:08 PM
[...] As I posted earlier Microsoft just announced release of the promised ODF converter. Developers of the open source project to produce a translator between OpenDocument format (ODF) and Open XML document formats announced the completion of the 1.0 release of the technology. The completed Open XML Translator enables conversion of documents from one format to the other and is available for anyone to download and use at no cost. When plugged into Microsoft® Office Word, for example, the Translator provides customers with the choice to open and save documents in ODF rather than the native Open XML format. The Translator may also be plugged into competing word processing programs that use ODF as the default format to open and save documents in Open XML. Microsoft Corp. announced its support for the open source project to build a technical bridge between Open XML and ODF in July 2006 to provide interoperability between formats. Since inception, it has remained among the 30 most active projects on SourceForge.net and has been downloaded more than 50,000 times. [...]