Microsoft has just released the second service pack for their Office 2007 suite and the one added capability that holds a lot of promise is the ability for Office 2007 to read and write ODF files which should increase its cross platform capability with many open source office suites out there such as OpenOffice.org and Lotus Symphony. This is in addition to the performance improvements it will also bring to the separate applications Excel, Word, Access and Outlook with Outlook especially seeing some huge leaps in performance.
Seems like a sure thing doesn’t it? Well taking a closer look it would seem as though the ODF compatibility is not all it’s made out to be with Office 2007 struggling particularly when it comes to reading and writing spreadsheets. A recent post by Rob on An Antic Disposition took an in depth look at all the major spreadsheet apps available and if they could read the other app’s spreadsheets. I won’t repeat the precise tests followed as you can easily read it on in his post, suffice to say it seems as though Excel 2007 spreadsheets saved as ODF files cannot be read by the other spreadsheet programs and that Excel 2007 struggles to read other programs spreadsheet ODF files. Now you may think that as an open source aficionado I’d be quick to find fault with Microsoft in this case but for once I have to admit that the bulk of the problem lies with Sun and its move towards ODF 1.2. A pertinent excerpt from Rob’s post shows the crux of the problem:
Sun should write out formulas in ODF 1.1 format, using the legacy “oooc” namespace prefix that the other vendors are using. Remember, the other vendors are using that namespace specifically for compatibility with OO’s ODF documents. This is the current convention. To unilaterally switch, without notice or coordination, to a new namespace, is not cool. When ODF 1.2 is an approved standard, then we all can move there in a coordinated fashion, to cause users minimal inconvenience. But the above table clearly shows the confusion that results if this move is not coordinated. I know OO 3.01 has an option to save in ODF 1.0/1.1 format. IMHO, this should setting should be the default. I’m not sure if the Sun Plugin has a similar configuration option, but I hope it does.
Hopefully at some point in the near future Sun and the various software vendors will be able to come to a point where the ODF format for all their programs and platforms is compatible making it far easier for users out there. Of course a lot of this may be null and void for the majority of users who will not even be aware of the addition of ODF support for Office 2007 as well as the fact that most users out there are still under the impression that only the Microsoft formats exist.
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