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Filed under: Windows, Office, Productivity, Microsoft, Commercial, Windows x64

Office 2007 SP2 ships, adds Open Document and PDF support

At last, Microsoft has released the much-anticipated SP2 update for Office 2007, and it's currently available from the Microsoft Download Center.

The 290Mb download includes more than 600 fixes and improvements. Two key additions include support for the Open Document formats in Word (.odt), Excel (.ods), and Powerpoint (.odp) and the option to save as PDF in all applications. In my limited testing, PDF output was very true to the Word and Excel originals.

Excel's charting mechanism has been been retooled, as has chart integration with other Office applications. Digital Inspiration notes several improvements to Outlook, including better IMAP and RSS support and faster startup, searching, and synchronization. Microsoft also touts general performance gains and better quality print output across the entire suite.

For a detailed look at what Office 2007 SP2 is all about, check the Office Sustained Engineering blog post. There's also a good roundup on Microsoft Support.

[via PC World]

Filed under: Business, Utilities, Windows, Office, OpenOffice.org

OpenXML Translator launched

openxml translator launchedVersion 1.0 of the OpenXML document translator launched this past Friday. This initiative translates native document formats into OpenOffice and Microsoft Office. The translator will work between Microsoft's OpenXML, and OpenOffice's OpenDocument formats. The project took eight months to complete and ensure it met a high quality and standards level. So far, over 8,000 copies of the translator have been downloaded on SourceForge. Although the translator is not being shipped within Office products, Microsoft said that it has tested it with Office 2007-2003, and Office XP. The next version of OpenOffice will carry the translator, which is currently available on SourceForge. The decision for Microsoft to be involved with the translator has stemmed from customer demand. Support for both Excel and PowerPoint documents are scheduled for November 2007.

Filed under: Internet, Google, Open Source

The Open Document Alliance welcomes Google

google joins open document allianceGoogle recently joined the Open Document Alliance. Google recently launched Google Spreadsheets, and purchased the online word processor, Writely, made the move to support the alliance in the development of the open document industry.

The Open Document Alliance is a relatively new organization that launched March of 2006. Its goal is to help the move from paper to electronic. Promoting and enhancing the use of the OpenDocument Format (ODF).

The Alliance's current members include:
  • Corel
  • Google Inc
  • IBM
  • Novell
  • Oracle
  • Red Hat Inc
  • Sun Microsystems Inc
In another move in the Open Doc world, Microsoft announced support for the ODF extension with plug-in translators with their office applications.

Filed under: Business, Developer, Text, News, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Office, OpenOffice.org

OpenDocument format finally gets ISO certification

opendocument format gains ISO certificationIt's taken two years for this to happen, but ODF has finally been approved as a standard format by the International Organization for Standardization. The OpenDocument Format is now poised to be readily adopted throughout Europe, as the EU recognizes the formats recognized by the ISO. BetaNews has the story, plus a great quote from ODF Alliance executive Director Mario Marcich, "We believe access to public records and essential services should never be restricted to users of a particular brand of software or computer platform." Word to that.

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The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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