ODF Implementation into Office 2007 Service Pack 2 (SP2)

Microsoft has already announced that it will make Office 2007 Service Pack 2 play nice with a range of file formats and standards including XPS, PDF, and ODF. In this regard, on December 16, 2008, the Redmond company has published the ODF 1.1 Implementer Notes for Office 2007 SP2. In this manner, Doug Mahugh, a senior product manager at Microsoft who specializes in Microsoft Office interoperability, indicated that the software giant delivered an example of its commitment to “transparency, industry collaboration, interoperability, and customer choice.”

Mahugh emphasized that the Open Document Format implementation notes for Office 2007 SP2 was an integral part of the company's efforts to ensure document interoperability. “We expect the notes to enable developers to create solutions that meet the interoperability needs of end-users. In roundtable discussions at recent DII workshops, implementers told us they would find it useful to know the specific details of our implementation of ODF. That feedback has helped inform our work on the implementation notes,” Mahugh added.

Microsoft pointed out that it was in no way abandoning the Open XML file format native to Office 2007 and Office 2008 for Mac, which it fought to have standardized, just as ODF. In fact, moving forward from the current focus on ODF, the Redmond company informed that it would also make available the implementation notes for Ecma 376 (Open XML) in Office 2007. Mahugh promised that, in the next few months, the implementation notes for Open XML would join those for ODF.

“Microsoft always has and always will support the Open XML file format. We believe that it is a standard that addresses the needs of our customers. Moreover, the considerable enhancements the Open XML specification gained through the ISO/IEC standards review process have further strengthened its foundation for future development,” Mahugh said. “Open XML is designed to be backward compatible with the content and functionality in billions of existing documents, thereby enhancing interoperability and document preservation in the public and private sectors.”