Microsoft says yes to open source project
In spite of Open Document Format (ODF) being the chief
rival of Microsoft’s own Open XML when it comes to document
standards, the software behemoth has announced its support
for including ODF to the list of business standards run by
the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).
The OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications is
based upon the XML format originally created and implemented
by the OpenOffice.org office suite and is widely used in
open-source alternatives to Microsoft Office.
A report from China said that Microsoft has declared its
support for an open-source project to create a converter
between Ecma Open XML and a Chinese national standard called
Unified Office Format (UOF). The support comes through a new
collaborative effort with the Beijing University of
Aeronautics and Astronautics.
The report added that beta versions of translators between
power point and Excel shall also be made available as part
of the Open XML Translator project launched in July 2006,
which will work with the XP 2003 and 2007 versions of the
two.
Microsoft sees ODF serving a different need than other
document format standards that exist in the market, such as
the Ecma Open XML formats. The company has announced that
its supports ODF because businessmen, who are the company’s
top clients, want software which they can use to communicate
and exchange information in a large heterogeneous network.
Microsoft had voted for ODF when it came before the ISO
(International Organization for Standards), while IBM cast
the only negative vote for Open XML when it was up for
approval by standards organization, Ecma International. ISO
has already approved ODF, while Open XML will be up for an
approval vote late this year.
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