The ISO has taken over control of the OOXML specification and started a committee to consider harmonisation with the OpenDocument Format (ODF).
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.
Twenty-two organisations across 60 countries are taking part in DocumentFreedomDay (DFD) to raise awareness about what happens when formats are no longer supported by proprietary software.
The Microsoft-created specification OOXML is struggling to achieve the two-thirds majority backing of ISO members in order for it to become a recognised standard, the aftermath of a high-profile meeting has revealed.
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.
IBM delivered a beta version last week of its forthcoming "Viper" DB2 database and said the product will be completed next year.
Microsoft says beta testing for Office 12 begins in November. Also, the company gets 120,000 requests a month from people who want to save their Office documents in PDF format, making it one of the most requested features.
Developers of alternative office software need to place more emphasis on ease of conversion if they ever wish to dethrone Microsoft. We test six office suites in the market.
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.
Developers of alternative office software need to place more emphasis on ease of conversion if they ever wish to de-throne Microsoft.
Despite the endless pressure to install the latest and greatest, many of the core technologies which are in use in the modern enterprise have been around for decades, if not centuries.
"Open to new ideas. Plays well with others."
New programs are to be aimed at encouraging software makers to produce applications for the next version of Office.
Corporate buyers should test this beta -- we suspect you'll love Office 2003's integrated XML. Home users: Office 2003 hasn't been enhanced enough to merit a test. Wait for the final release, and then check our review.
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