Improved ODF support for Office, courtesy of Sun

EWeek reported last week on Sun's new ODF plugin for Microsoft Office. While OpenOffice generally does a passable job of converting between Office and ODF files, more intricate presentations or heavily-formatted documents may be more susceptible to losses. While Microsoft has its own tool for converting files, the 30MB download from Sun is fairly mature.

EWeek noted a few niggles, but,

Version 1.0 warts aside, Sun's plug-in can play an important role in broadening interoperability. As OpenOffice.org and other ODF-based office applications become adopted more broadly (by the state of Massachusetts, for starters), Microsoft Office users will want the flexibility to communicate with partners or customers using these applications. A bit of advice, though: When collaborating on complex documents, it's best to stick to the same application and format."

The plugin is not currently compatible with Office 2007, but tools internal to this version of Office also do a passable job of conversion. This remains a handy tool to install in your schools if you are running Microsoft products to help ensure compatibility with home users, many of whom have adopted OpenOffice.