Microsoft has released tools that should make it much easier for users to share and save text-based files
Specifically, it lets users save Word documents in the ODF format favoured by the free Open Office application.
More translation add-ons for other applications in Microsoft’s Office package of programs will follow.
Format furore
Rivalries in the technology world mean that companies develop their own proprietary file formats which do not work together.
This means that moving documents between programs on different machines can be frustrating.
Although it is possible to save files in neutral configurations so they can be moved around easily, these do not preserve all the nuances of style and layout available in proprietary formats.
The translation tool should ease some of the frustration as it lets users open, alter and save files in Word that have been previously saved in the Open Document format (ODF).
Amongst others, ODF is used by the free Open Office program that is becoming a rival to Microsoft’s Office suite of applications.
tsolum Said:
on February 3, 2007 at 8:39 am
Actually if Microsoft would switch to the ODF then this tool would not be needed. As usual though Microsoft insists on its own proprietary format so that it ties users to Microsoft. If MS used ODF then the users would have choice of what software the user could use, instead of something MS made. ODF is not proprietary software, it is open source, meaning free, you can look at the source code, change it, improve it, sell it, just plain use it. You cannot do that with proprietary software.