OpenOffice may support Microsoft's Office Open XML standard in future, but the organisation behind the open source productivity suite anticipates that everyone including Microsoft will have "difficulty" in making the format work.
The US seems set to vote for Microsoft's Open XML (OOXML) file format be ratified as an international standard; the chair of its technical committee said opposition to the file format was based on spite and anti-Microsoft sentiment.
Standards Australia has maintained its "abstain" vote on Microsoft's attempt to attain international standard status for its Office Open XML file format.
The head of Google's open-source programs on Monday urged international delegates to vote against certifying Office Open XML as an ISO standard, saying the Microsoft-led effort poses a risk to users who want unfettered access to documents.
A pivotal meeting of international delegates to decide the fate of Microsoft's Open XML finished on Friday with advocates and foes of the standards bid predicting victory.
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.
Many free and inexpensive office suites are available for download or for use in a web browser. So what's the advantage of paying a pretty penny for a desktop office suite? Corel's WordPerfect Office X4 offers a strong software package that comes closest to the breadth and depth of features found in Microsoft Office.
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