MS Eases Office Format

Microsoft will directly publish specs for its core Office suite's older formats as well as help developers map them to the Open XML formats used in Office 2007, the company said on Thursday. Addressing complaints that the formats for Excel, PowerPoint, and Word were not accessible, the Windows developer says it will switch from a system that only supplied the information through e-mail to posting the information directly on the web, allowing anyone to access the information needed to implement Office formats. Microsoft also plans to make the file types fit the company's Open Specification Promise that protects users from all but patent infringement claims.

The Redmond, Washington-based firm has also begun sponsoring an open-source translation project that will help those working with the original Office formats bring them to the Open XML standard used for the latest version of the productivity suite. While developers such as Apple, Google, and several Linux or OpenOffice teams already support Office 2007 files, the unnamed project will let even more developers learn how to map from the old format to the new, according to Microsoft.

While officially described as a response to "national bodies" concerned about ease of access, the news comes just days after Microsoft was placed under a second EU investigation which charges the software producer with failing to supply source code for Excel and Word as well as guaranteeing that Open XML-encoded documents will work outside of Office 2007.

By Electronista Staff