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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This week Australia's Federal Government announced it had allocated $3.6 million in funding to 57 local research projects so that they could be commercialised, with many of them being web or IT-related start-ups.
You may not believe this, but Microsoft thinks we're biased...against Microsoft. But if reactions to our office suite review are anything to go by, our readers disagree.
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.
As Microsoft unveils the next version of its flagship Office suite, we ask: is it revolution or evolution?
Jeff Raikes, Group VP of Microsoft, describes Office 2003 as "the first and best example of how end users can benefit from XML." Is it for you?
Data exchange format is just too slow, some say. But there's debate over the best way to make Extensible Markup Language fly.
As Australia and various other nations prepare to vote on whether Microsoft's Open Office XML becomes an ISO standard, the Redmond giant is attempting to downplay fears that OOXML adopters will be hooked into the company's 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.
Microsoft has revamped the online resource site for its Office software line, bringing together help resources, software add-ons and other content.
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.
While Microsoft Office System is the most complete suite on the block, there's no compelling reason for everyone to upgrade.
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