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.
Responding to pressure customers and governments, Microsoft has announced Office 2007 Service Pack 2 will add support for the Open Document Format (ODF), Portable Document Format (PDF), and XML Paper Specification (XPS).
Microsoft's Open Office XML specifications will be scrutinised by government technocrats in Geneva this week to determine if improvements Microsoft has made to it overcome technical problems noted by ISO members last September.
Novell has said there is no end in sight to the continuing feud between supporters of OpenDocument Format and Microsoft's Office Open XML.
Microsoft will add native support to Office 2007 for the OpenDocument Format (ODF) instead of OOXML because of compatibility issues but Microsoft refuses to admit that ODF has won the document format war.
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.
What is it about Microsoft's proposed OOXML standard that has boffins hurling death threats at each other?
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