Skip to Content

Free TUAW iPhone app -- try it now!
AOL Tech

odf posts

Filed under: Office, Microsoft, OpenOffice.org

Microsoft Office 2007 SP2 will add support for Open Document Format

OpenOffice.org documents

Microsoft has announced plans to add support for a several new document formats to Office 2007. The company plans to release Office 2007 SP2 during the first half of 2009, and it will add support for XPS, PDF 1.5, and ODF 1.1 files, among others.

Users will be able to create, open, and edit ODF documents, and save documents as XPS, PDF, or ODF files. The Open Document Format, or ODF is an open source challenger to Microsoft's Office formats. A few years ago the company released an add-on for Microsoft Word that would allow users to open ODF documents. But with the launch of Office 2007 SP2, support for ODF and PDF files will be built right into the applications. No add-ons necessary.

Or you could just use OpenOffice.org today. No waiting until 2009 necessary.

[via OStatic and CNet]

Filed under: Business, Microsoft, Freeware, Open Source

British schools say no thanks to Vista and Office 2007

No Vista in this LabIn case you were rooting for Vista to take over the world, we've got bad news. The agency that takes care of all things technology in regards to education in the U.K., Becta, states in a press release that the upgrade to Vista should be "avoided."

Considering that free and open source operating systems and office suites do things about as well if not better than Microsoft products, especially if price is taken into consideration, this is hardly surprising. Becta stated that a primary reason is incompatibility - Office 2007's lack of support for the ODF format as well as the new Office format (those blasted DOCX files) - which doesn't make it a hot contender.

The release recommends that Vista should be considered an option only if there are any institution-wide ICT provisions being planned. Even so, that doesn't sound too good when you have schools on a budget trying to get the most out of their money. And when it comes to the bottom line, the Microsoft option looks downright grim.

The beginning of a trend? Perhaps. It's hard to beat free.

[via InformationWeek]

Filed under: Business, Windows, Macintosh, Office, Productivity, OpenOffice.org

WordPerfect to support ODF and Open XML

corel wordperfectDo we still care about Corel's WordPerfect? Is there anyone out there that actually still uses it? Maybe I'm wrong but even people that have no idea about software still tend to use MS Word. Dell did at one time did bundle the app with some of their systems, but not any more. Anyway, Corel might trying to generate some buzz as they will be adding support for Open Document Format as well as Microsoft's Open XML to WordPerfect, starting sometime in mid-2007. Corel is not disclosing any other developments that might be built into the next version of the software, but says it will keep the public up-to-date on their plans. Is WordPerfect on a move to become a player again in the Office arena? They did announce that Firefox bundling will be coming down the pipes. Hmmm..

Filed under: Business, Internet, Windows, Microsoft, OpenOffice.org, Open Source, Social Software

Microsoft has decided to join the Open Document movement

microsoft open documentIn a move to join the massive open document communities, and to grab some additional business, Microsoft has announced support for the ODF formats through plug-ins and translators.

Microsoft will create tools that will work to enable the communication between Microsoft Office Open XML formats and Open Document formats. The tools in question will be free to download, and licensed as open source software by the end of 2006. Support for Excel and PowerPoint are to be expected sometime in 2007.

Microsoft has stated that its Open XML document format is superior, and compromises to this format, will require customer disclosures as a necessary portion of the translation between the two document formats.

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.

Featured Time Waster

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, ...

View more Time Wasters

Featured Galleries

Defective by Design, London: Protest Pictures
Microsoft Security Essentials
Chromium Pre-Alpha on CrunchBang Linux
Safari 4 Beta
10 Firefox themes that don't suck
IE8 RC1
Download Squad at the Crunchies After-Party
Download Squad at the Crunchies
WordPress 2.7
Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals
Windows 7 Hands On
Comodo Internet Security
Android First-look: Amazon.com MP3 Store
Android First-look: Twitroid
Google Reader Android
Android Hands-On
Twine 1.0
Photoshop Express Beta
Mozilla Birthday Cake
Palm stuff
Adobe Lightroom 1.1

 


Follow us on Twitter!

Flickr Pool

www.flickr.com

More Tech Coverage

AOL Radio