Users of Microsoft's word processing application Word can now import and export files that use the Open Document Format, ODF. In February both Microsoft and Sun Microsystems published conversion plug-ins.
The Microsoft plug-in was published early February. It converts documents created with Microsoft's Open XML specification to documents created using the ISO standard ODF. According to Microsoft its plug-in can be used in three versions of its Office application suite, Office 2003, Office XP and Office 2007. Support for converting spreadsheets and presentations will be added later.
The Microsoft plug-in was funded but not developed by the software maker. CleverAge, a French software firm, wrote most of the code for the translator. IT companies in India and Germany were hired for quality assurance and testing.
Sun followed two weeks later, with a first version of its conversion plug-in. The software works only on Microsoft Word 2003. It allows users of this version of Word to read, edit and save to ODF. The final version of this plug-in will be made available this spring, Sun says. The Sun developers are also adding support for spreadsheets and presentations.
ODF was accepted as an official OASIS standard in May 2005. It was adopted by the International Standards Organisation a year later. Microsoft is trying to get its own document standard, OOXML, accepted by ISO as well. A request to fast-track the ISO procedure was refused this month, following objections raised by standardisation organisations in twenty countries. Most objected to the length of the specification, more than six thousand pages.
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