Microsoft backs document-format test tool
Summary
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The tool is intended to be a step towards delivering on the promise of the ISO/IEC 29500 and ECMA-376 standards, both of which are based on Microsoft's Open Office XML (OOXML) document format, Microsoft said.
Several other tools aimed at easing document-format interoperability were also introduced or updated on Monday by the software maker.
The standards are intended to provide a format that can be supported by productivity software from any vendor. But with different vendors implementing the standard in different ways, organizations need a way to make sure the documents they create are fully standards-compliant, Fraunhofer and Microsoft said.
"The introduction of open standards like ISO/IEC 29500 is the first step toward a new era of document interoperability, but we have no guarantee that any implementation of the standard is correct unless we develop a way to test its output," Fraunhofer Fokus senior researcher Klaus-Peter Eckert said in a statement.
He said the tool Fraunhofer plans to build should help avoid interoperability problems, as well as longer-term problems in data archiving.
Fraunhofer Fokus will build the online document-format test library and validation tool, with Microsoft providing support as a development partner and through project funding.
The project resulted from an ongoing series of forums conducted under the aegis of the Document Interoperability Initiative (DII), the eighth of which is being held on Monday and Tuesday in London, Microsoft said. The DII includes technical vendor discussions, labs and other efforts supporting interoperability across different document-format implementations. Participants include vendors, customers, standards professionals and document-format technical experts.
OOXML competes with the OpenDocument Format (ODF) format, which is based on the format used by OpenOffice.org.
In its announcement, Microsoft noted that developers have released the Open XML Document Viewer version 1.0, a tool for translating OOXML documents into HTML so that they can be viewed by a web browser. The tool already included plug-ins for Firefox, Internet Explorer 7 and Internet Explorer 8, and the new version, released on Friday, adds an Opera plug-in.
The company also highlighted updates to several other interoperability projects over the past few weeks. Apache POI (Poor Obfuscation Implementation) 3.5 appeared in beta-test form on 19 February, extending support for XLSX and improving DOCX and PPTX support.
XLSX, DOCX and PPTX are all OOXML format types. Apache POI is a software development kit (SDK) providing Java libraries for reading and writing OOXML documents.
The Office Binary to Open XML Translator was updated on May 7, adding support for the .XLS and .PPT file formats. This tool is designed to translate documents using older Microsoft Office formats into OOXML; earlier versions support only the .DOC format.
Finally, the Open XML-ODF Translator has been improved. This tool allows users of Microsoft Office 2003 and Office XP to edit ODF documents. Version 3.0, released on 28 April, has been tweaked to better support Office 2007 Service Pack 2 (SP2), which includes built-in ODF support, according to project developers.
This article was originally posted on ZDNet UK.
Talkback Most Recent of 15 Talkback(s)
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Great Article
This is a really positive step for Microsoft.
Socratesfoot18th May 2009 -
Finally, the Open XML-ODF Translator has been improved.
You mean there's actually a chance it might work now? Somehow I doubt it. If Microsoft is "in competition with" ODF then it's in their best interest (as in not in the best interest of their customers) to make damn sure it's broken enough to make it unusable.
kozmcrae18th May 2009 -
RE: Microsoft backs document-format test tool
Yeah sure we can all trust a Microsoft backed compatibility and standards tool. LOL.
if(vendor == 'MS')
return '100% compatible'
fr0thy218th May 2009 -
Umm
It's funny and all, but Microsoft has never been known to scew results like that, unless you have articles that show otherwise...
Every test, conversion, diaganostic from Microsoft shows accurate, documented results where it failed. No different than W3C Validation. And those are Microsoft created tools. Here you see a tool that is being backed by Microsoft, not created by.
TylerM8918th May 2009 -
Funny?
Here's one of many brief histories of Microsoft's approach to standards. Have a look at: http://www.grokdoc.net/index.php/Dirty_Tricks_history
More recently, there's the OOXML v. ODF scandal, and then there's the EC's rulings against Microsoft on incompatibilities/interoperation, the one where the EC fined them huge amounts of money and forced them (or at least they're trying) to make them tow the legal line.
Nah, Microsoft has never played fair/legal with standards, and it's a bit early to say they've changed their game.
zkiwi18th May 2009 -
So what your saying...
Is that a corporation with a lot of money and power used this to make standards fit their needs and in turn, the needs of customers and 3rd party developers. It sounds like Google, IBM, Apple.
Microsoft isn't trying to kill ODF. If anything, ODF and OpenOffice help push Office and it's technologies and spur development in the community.
Look at this way, Microsoft has a platform, Windows (Vista,Mobile,Server), they have customers ranging from schools, business, and families. They have products that produce content that needs to be documented and interoptable with other applications, they could use standards already set in place by open source groups, but those standards don't fit the needs of customers and developers. They create their own standards, publish documentation. Forcing a software developer to standards that work great for an open source community doesn't always work, even more so with Microsoft and Windows. Features and design requirements set forth by developers and customers come first.TylerM8918th May 2009 -
No...
I didn't say anything like you are saying I said.
And as far as Microsoft not wanting to kill ODF. That's demonstrably a lie. Microsoft had to be dragged kicking and screaming to even partially support ODF.
And as for your conclusion, I'm sorry but declaring Microsoft to be the only game that "fits what developers and customers want" is also stretching the truth more than a little. The poster child counter argument is the bizarrely inadequate document incompatibilities between versions of their office product range. That alone is history enough to show that they do not give what the customer or developer wants.zkiwi18th May 2009 -
That Fettucini cost more than the keyboard it landed on.
You're a veritable fountain of FUD. Let me guess. Your income is Microsoft dependent. No need to answer, I already know.
I have no doubt that everything you say is "true". But what the customer gets is not based on those "facts". What the Microsoft customer gets is based on the inclined plane!
kozmcrae18th May 2009 -
Nice try...
I've always wondered reading open source zealot posts whether they somehow worked for Sun or IBM. But I can assure you I am only a developer, who uses .Net - I do not receive any income from Microsoft.
People dont just use Windows and Office because Microsoft somehow bribed the OEMs. But I'm sure you've already skipped most of what I've been saying so you can continue to think the only people saying positive things about Microsoft is Microsoft.
It may be hard to believe, but developers and people actually like using Microsoft products. Crazy right?TylerM8918th May 2009 -
When you use the word "zealot".
You completely discredit yourself and everything you say. You're lousy at reading comprehension too (must be from reading all that .Net code). Where the hell do you think Linux users come from. Go ahead. Three guesses (the second two are wrong). Damn near every one of us were Microsoft Windows users. That's millions of users. Why is it that people like you think Linux users were born yesterday? I know people say positive things about Microsoft, I was one of them. I am also one of the people who say very very bad things about Microsoft. All of them true because I've experienced them first hand as a Microsoft Windows user. I was never a developer but I used Microsoft products just like you.
People just like you switch to Open Source every day. There's a good chance Microsoft will screw you in some way to make you jump ship too. Personally I don't care. Open Source and Linux have already passed the point of no return. Microsoft will never die but it's slowly losing control of the marketplace it believes to be its property.
"Your income is Microsoft dependent." That's what I said. You use Microsoft products to generate income. That's Microsoft dependent. You don't need to work for Microsoft to be dependent for at least a portion of income on them.
So, do you see anything else I didn't say?
kozmcrae18th May 2009 -
Not the true standard
Sun and OpenOffice had already developed and
standardized OpenDocument Format (ODF) as ISO/IEC
26300:2006 before M$ came in and bribed the ISO to
recognize their non-standard "standard".
M$ is just trying to muddy the waters and continue the
vendor lock-in that they've done since they started.
They're jealous because the open source community came
up with a non-proprietary, open format for office
documents, and that threatens their monopoly.
How can there be two competing, incompatible standards
recognized by the same organization?
The ISO should either revoke this bogus "standard", or
be replaced by a more credible organization.
Standards bodies must be credible, not on the take.
roncemer18th May 2009 -
What?
What are you talking about, there are dozens of applications, tools and products that use, create and convert OOXML documents. You make it sound like the format is used only by Microsoft products.
As a .Net developer, I may be bias, but I have very little issue with how Microsoft went about this OOXML standarization. If I'm going to release an application that can uses document formats and I'm writing my application in .Net I want to use a format that my clients can open with the most popular application easily and a format I can create quickly.
The format allows developers, favoring .Net, to create documents in their own applications that follow standards that will function across the board.
Microsoft, as a software developer, has requirements and demands from customers and to think an open format like ODF can solve all of those strictly is silly. Microsoft isn't going away and the developer community around Microsoft products and technologies is incredibly large. You, again, make it sound like people are locked-in to Microsoft-only, when customers could use any number of developers that can read/convert/edit OOXML documents.TylerM8918th May 2009 -
that's a charade!
M$ is trying to make the standard compliance being the same as it's implementation.
the people shold stop using OOXML and use ODF instead for the good of the community.
Linux Geek18th May 2009 -
Too much koolaid for you
What kind of "standard" has as a basic definition that whatever Microsoft Office does is what the standard is, even if the text says otherwise?
Check the objective of the OOXML standard. It's a farce.
mosborne18th May 2009 -
Funny: everyone is CRITICIZING MS for their ODF sabotage
I finished reading this press release (I dont consider this a post) and its pretty funny to read about their ODF translator when everyone involved in ODF has been complaining this week about what Microsoft is doing to ODF.
When the whole tech world complains about someone, what do you do? Cover it? of course not. You run press releases.
zeke12320th May 2009
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