Office 2007: Microsoft still does not support ODF

Not supporting the new ODF standard recently approved by ISO, Microsoft is loyal to its plan: bringing XML into the default file format for Office 2007 suite.

An official of Microsoft Corp. However, despite the recent adoption of the ODF (Open Document Format for Office Applications) ODF format by the United Nations International Organization (ISO), the company is still consistent with the decision not to support it yet. ODF support in your Office suite.

Instead of supporting ODF, Microsoft is focusing on making XML the default file format for Office 2007 (documents from Word, Excel and PowerPoint), said Chris Capossela, vice president of Office marketing. Microsoft said.

Microsoft wants to see Office Open XML become the international standard for Office documents and in November 2005 submitted it to the European standards agency Ecma International. The company hopes Ecma's approval will help speed up ISO standardization. However, in early May 2006, ISO approved Open XML's ODF competitor to become an international standard (ODF submitted by OpenDocument Foundation and by some Microsoft competitors such as Sun Microsystems Inc., Adobe Systems Inc.). and IBM Corp. support). Gartner Inc. analysis company. This is a "blow to Microsoft" because it will never be accepted by an XML-based standard for Office document formats.

Mr. Capossela said that Microsoft customers are more concerned about backward compatibility between Office 2007 and older Office versions than are interested in seeing ODF become a file format. Microsoft did not see the ISO approval of ODF hindering customers from upgrading to Office 2007.