Standards body Ecma International has created a committee to standardise Microsoft Office document formats, handing the software giant a victory in an intensifying struggle over desktop software.
Microsoft says it's opening its Office desktop software by adding support for XML--a move that should help companies free up access to shared information. But there's a catch: It has yet to disclose the underlying XML dialect.
Microsoft has failed in its initial effort to fast-track the Office Open XML (OOXML) document file format as an international standard but it will have another chance in early 2008.
The next version of Microsoft Office will be "dramatically better" as a platform for creating applications, according to Bill Gates, Microsoft's chairman and chief software architect.
For some insight into how Microsoft plans to drive upgrades of its nearly ubiquitous Office desktop application suite, talk to Jean Paoli.
Office 2007 continues to be the focus of discussion here at Big Deal, but the most recent crop of reactions to my postings have shifted from the possible nuisance value of interface changes to the potential upside for OpenOffice, the open-source rival to the desktop suite crown.
As Microsoft unveils the next version of its flagship Office suite, we ask: is it revolution or evolution?
A distinction that Microsoft is making between professional and standard versions of Office 2003 means that many customers may not get all the features they've been expecting, including broad support for Web services.
Data exchange format is just too slow, some say. But there's debate over the best way to make Extensible Markup Language fly.
Explosion of special-interest XML dialects could mean the standard is a success or could be the start of a new headache.
Michael Meeks is a distinguished engineer at Novell. But his current project may be his toughest yet. He is in charge of tackling interoperability between Novell's OpenOffice.org productivity suite and Microsoft Office. And as with anything relating to Microsoft, this involves more than just technology.
Redmond-based group project manager of Microsoft Office, Gray Knowlton, told ZDNet Australia that OOXML provides higher levels of security. "One of the benefits we have with the OpenOffice XML formats is that we know when we read and write and document because we have an XML based representation of what's in that content -- we know what should and should not be there," he said.
Microsoft says it's opening its Office desktop software by adding support for XML--a move that should help companies free up access to shared information. But there's a catch: It has yet to disclose the underlying XML dialect.
New programs are to be aimed at encouraging software makers to produce applications for the next version of Office.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is expected to unveil a new product intended to turn Office into a data-collection tool and boost sales of the desktop software.
The Canadian software maker sets a date of late April for the release of the latest version of its flagship office suite, reworked to lure in corporate buyers.
The company is releasing the new version of its WordPerfect office software, but analysts say it's unlikely to make much headway against Microsoft Office.
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