|
|
| Sun Announces ODF Converter for MS Office 2003 - MA Already Using it |
 |
|
Wednesday, February 07 2007 @ 11:53 AM EST
|
Sun has announced a plugin for ODF that "allows seamless two-way conversion of Microsoft Office documents to ODF", they say, specifically Microsoft Office 2003, and get this -- the disabled can use it with their current accessibility devices. Massachusetts is using the plugin right now and an early access version is being made available as a download in the middle of this month and the final release projected for spring. It does text currently (.doc/.odt), but by April, it will do spreadsheets and presentations as well. Here's their press release. Here's the paragraph about Massachusetts: The Executive Department of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is currently using the converter to meet the previously identified January, 2007 compliance date for the start of a phased migration to the ODF format. In addition to allowing the Commonwealth's existing Microsoft Office applications to read and write ODF text files, the converter permits the continued use of the state's chosen accessibility technologies to meet the needs of people with disabilities. This is a real achievement that Sun can be justly proud of. Andy Updegrove explains the differences. I also checked what Microsoft's plugin can do, and the release announcement says this: Open XML Translator provides tools to build a technical bridge between the Open XML Formats and Open Document Format(ODF). As the first component of this initiative, the ODF Add-in for Microsoft Word 2007 allows to Open & Save ODF documents in Word....It has been tested over Word XP, Word 2003 and Word 2007 in five different languages (English, Dutch, French, German and Polish)... We'are also planning to work on Excel and Powerpoint and this should be availble by the end of the year (Novembre 2007), so stay tuned and keep on providing feedback as this will help us in future development!
Open and Save, it says. What about write? Neither does spreadsheets or presentations yet, and Sun appears to have distinguished its offering particularly by making it usable right now by the disabled community. You'd have to try them both to see which works best, but Massachusetts is using Sun's plugin right now. And Sun's announcement says its plugin allows one to write ODF documents also.
Update: Note that Updegrove has corrected his article with respect to the Microsoft plugin's capabilities. And here's Microsoft's press release about its plugin: The completed Open XML Translator enables conversion of documents from one format to the other and is available for anyone to download and use at no cost. When plugged into Microsoft® Office Word, for example, the Translator provides customers with the choice to open and save documents in ODF rather than the native Open XML format. The Translator may also be plugged into competing word processing programs that use ODF as the default format to open and save documents in Open XML.
Here's the rest of the body of the Sun press release: *******************************
Sun Microsystems Announces OpenDocument Format (ODF) Plug-in Application for Microsoft Office
Wednesday February 7, 9:00 am ET
Users of Accessibility Devices Now Fully Able to Participate in Organizations Switching to ODF
MENLO PARK, Calif., Feb. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW - News), the largest code contributor to free and open source communities, today announced the upcoming availability of the StarOffice(TM) 8 Conversion Technology Preview plug-in application for Microsoft Office 2003. The early access version of the OpenDocument Format (ODF) plug-in, available as a free download, will allow seamless two-way conversion of Microsoft Office documents to ODF.
"Organizations can now consider switching to ISO/IEC 26300 OpenDocument Format while protecting employees needing assistive devices only supported by legacy Microsoft software," said Rich Green, executive vice president, Software at Sun Microsystems. "ODF is important because it ensures documents will still be readable long into the future while allowing a wide choice of proprietary and open source software choices to work with the documents."
The StarOffice 8 Conversion Technology Preview is primarily based on the OpenOffice.org platform, the open-source office productivity suite developed by the OpenOffice.org community including the founder and main contributor Sun Microsystems. Sun offers distributions and configurations of and support for OpenOffice.org under the StarOffice brand. The initial plug-in application will support the conversion of text documents (.doc/.odt) only, but full support of spreadsheet and presentation documents is expected in April. The conversion is absolutely transparent to the user and the additional memory footprint is minimal.
The Executive Department of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is currently using the converter to meet the previously identified January, 2007 compliance date for the start of a phased migration to the ODF format. In addition to allowing the Commonwealth's existing Microsoft Office applications to read and write ODF text files, the converter permits the continued use of the state's chosen accessibility technologies to meet the needs of people with disabilities.
"Adoption of the ISO Standard OpenDocument Format has grown significantly in the past year, as more governments and businesses around the world embrace the standard," said Marino Marcich, managing director of the ODF Alliance, a group of more than 350 organizations, governments and companies that promotes and advances the use of OpenDocument Format as the primary document format for governments. "This plug-in will simplify and further accelerate implementation of ODF by allowing users to standardize their work flows on ODF, so that they become vendor independent and can choose between multiple implementations and suppliers going forward."
The OpenDocument Format was accepted as an official OASIS standard in May 2005, and adopted by the International Standards Organization in May 2006.
The StarOffice 8 Conversion Technology Preview is expect to be available mid-February 2007 at sun.com/openoffice with the final release expected later this spring.
|
|
|
|
| Authored by: TedSwart on Wednesday, February 07 2007 @ 12:22 PM EST |
What a joke -- given that the Sun Word 2003 to .odt conversion and vice versa is
almost certainly superior to MS's own begrudging offering in this arena --
before the ink is even dry on the MS announcement![ Reply to This | # ]
|
| |
| Authored by: cricketjeff on Wednesday, February 07 2007 @ 12:23 PM EST |
But not too off topic maybe!
Please make links clickable and use the HTML selections and the preview button.[ Reply to This | # ]
|
- Ballmerman and Shillboy to the rescue... - Authored by: jeevesbond on Wednesday, February 07 2007 @ 01:15 PM EST
- Singer Keith Urban sues Keith Urban over Web site - Authored by: SpaceLifeForm on Wednesday, February 07 2007 @ 01:22 PM EST
- Only semi-OT... - Authored by: dave booth on Wednesday, February 07 2007 @ 01:26 PM EST
- Shocking news - Dell 17" laptops - Authored by: SpaceLifeForm on Wednesday, February 07 2007 @ 01:54 PM EST
- Weather alert: new Microsoft FUD storm expected - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, February 07 2007 @ 03:05 PM EST
- SCOX closed < $1.00 - Authored by: prmills@earthlin on Wednesday, February 07 2007 @ 04:55 PM EST
- A major attack - a surge on ISPs and *you* - Authored by: SpaceLifeForm on Wednesday, February 07 2007 @ 04:57 PM EST
- Off Topic thread - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, February 07 2007 @ 05:30 PM EST
- "The end of the road for DRM?" - Authored by: Brian S. on Wednesday, February 07 2007 @ 07:36 PM EST
- Sidebar - Red Hat v. MS: Who Will Win? - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, February 07 2007 @ 07:45 PM EST
- "High Security for $100 Laptop" - Authored by: Brian S. on Wednesday, February 07 2007 @ 08:01 PM EST
- hrmm really - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, February 07 2007 @ 08:21 PM EST
- hrmm really - Authored by: W^L+ on Thursday, February 08 2007 @ 01:53 AM EST
| |
| Authored by: entre on Wednesday, February 07 2007 @ 12:30 PM EST |
| This "corrects" everything now! [ Reply to This | # ]
|
| |
| Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, February 07 2007 @ 12:37 PM EST |
I am not sure whether I understand the workings of the converter correctly.
But the way I saw it, the converter plugin reads out the memory structure that
is used to store the document data. Then it converts it to an XMLed version of
RTF. This RTF can be converted to ODF. The reverse road is travelled from ODF to
MS. This plugin is strongly dependent on MS plugin API structure and memory
layout.
I read somewhere that they won't publish this converter as FOSS because they
expect MS to kill it when it is in the open.
Probably either by litigation or by a "service" pack for windows or
Office that will break the plugin. (I didn't understand which).
Rob (winter, not logged in)[ Reply to This | # ]
|
| |
| Authored by: pfusco on Wednesday, February 07 2007 @ 12:52 PM EST |
| The line in the article says it best. Sun can justly be proud of this.
Looks
like ODF will be the default standard no matter what MS can do. Its riding the
wave people :) ---
only the soul matters in the end [ Reply to This | # ]
|
| |
| Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, February 07 2007 @ 12:57 PM EST |
| LOL! [ Reply to This | # ]
|
| |
| Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, February 07 2007 @ 01:37 PM EST |
Just when M$ thought they had a lock in!
Chairs will be flying!
I wonder if BG owns a chair company? Could save him
some money ;)
[ Reply to This | # ]
|
| |
| Authored by: rsteinmetz70112 on Wednesday, February 07 2007 @ 02:09 PM EST |
The OpenDocument Fellowship announced that they had a converter. Is this the
same one? The Fellowship has announced they had submitted their to MA, under an
NDL
I'm a little confused about which is which.
I also wonder if Sun has used the fruits of the technology sharing agreement
with Microsoft to make this possible.
I guess we'll find out in due time.
---
Rsteinmetz - IANAL therefore my opinions are illegal.
"I could be wrong now, but I don't think so."
Randy Newman - The Title Theme from Monk
[ Reply to This | # ]
|
| |
| Authored by: cybervegan on Wednesday, February 07 2007 @ 02:19 PM EST |
Well someone at Sun is thinking correctly... long may they continue to make
decisions like this too!
I just wish Sun would be a little less schizophrenic. This is bigger than
opening up Solaris, maybe not as important as opening Java, but it's still very
significant.
Thankyou, Sun. You done good.
-cybervegan
---
Software source code is a bit like underwear - you only want to show it off in
public if it's clean and tidy. Refusal could be due to embarrassment or shame...[ Reply to This | # ]
|
| |
| Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, February 07 2007 @ 02:20 PM EST |
from the article:
"while Microsoft has funded an open source-developed plugin that will work
with Office 2003, Office XP and the new Office 2007 version of its office
suite."
Either you skipped something obvious or I did...
[ Reply to This | # ]
|
| |
| Authored by: Alan(UK) on Wednesday, February 07 2007 @ 02:26 PM EST |
Is the Sun converter a plug-in for Microsoft Office 2003 running under Microsoft
Windows only?
Does it meet the MA requirement that ODF is the default format?
Does it actually convert .doc to .odf as Sun states or does it just enable Word
2003 to read and write .odf?
If you have a copy of Word 2003 and the converter, presumably you could convert
any legacy Word format to ODF with the fidelity that Word 2003 can read them.
Can this process be automated to convert a large number as a batch?
Will there be dancing in the streets of Redmond tonight?
[ Reply to This | # ]
|
| |
| Authored by: billposer on Wednesday, February 07 2007 @ 02:37 PM EST |
I don't see how it is possible to write something that converts with
100% faithfulness from ODF to any Microsoft format because in at least one case
Microsoft's OOXML is incapable in principle of representing information that is
representable in ODF. I refer to the language metadata, which in ODF consists of
a three letter code from ISO-639-3, but in OOXML consists of two hex digits
assigned by Microsoft. The result is that most languages that can be listed in
ODF have no corresponding representation in OOXML. This means that if you start
with a Microsoft format document, in this respect at least you can round-trip
via ODF, but that it is not in general possible to convert a document from ODF
to OOXML.
I should say that Microsoft is now saying (in response to
criticism from the linguistic community) that the limitation in OOXML was
unintentional. How exactly this will play out I don't know. But as OOXML now
stands, as "standardized" by ECMA, this problem remains.
[ Reply to This | # ]
|
| |
| Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, February 07 2007 @ 03:06 PM EST |
| Is there a link to download Sun's ODF converter add-in for Word? [ Reply to This | # ]
|
| |
| Authored by: philc on Wednesday, February 07 2007 @ 06:20 PM EST |
A quality converter for MS office 2003 is bad news for Microsoft. It will lock
all Windows customers that need ODF into XP and Office 2003. None of these
locked in customers will be able to move to Vista. Just another reason NOT to
move to Vista.
I hope Sun's plugin for 2003 is an excellent solution. It will force Microsoft
to take the converter for Vista very seriously.
Meanwhile, it looks like their ISO standards ship is getting stuck in the mud. I
hope it distracts them for a few years.[ Reply to This | # ]
|
| |
| Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, February 07 2007 @ 08:41 PM EST |
"Neither does spreadsheets or presentations
yet"
Well, since MS spreadsheets seem to rely on bizaare
bugs to work correctly, I have no problem with the translator's inability to
convert them. And if it can't translate Powerpoint files, that'd be just fine
with me. Let them remain untranslatable. Perhaps we can stamp them out that
way.
As much as I can't stand Microsoft's office tools, I might find myself
either obtaining a copy of either their plug-in or Sun's and making it available
for download or including a link to either Sun's or Microsoft's download site on
the navigation menu of my web site much the same way some sites do to help
visitors deal with PDF-formatted files. This'll let me feel a little better
about refusing to work with MS Office formats.
I'd sure like to see a
standalone version of Sun's converter but I'm guessing that that would pretty
much require a re-implementation of Word. But it's a start.
[ Reply to This | # ]
|
| |
| Authored by: moosie on Thursday, February 08 2007 @ 03:01 AM EST |
Open XML Translator provides tools to build a technical bridge
between the Open XML Formats and Open Document Format(ODF). As the first
component of this initiative, the ODF Add-in for Microsoft Word 2007 allows to
Open & Save ODF documents in Word....
It has been tested over Word XP, Word
2003 and Word 2007 in five different languages (English, Dutch, French, German
and Polish)...
We'are also planning to work on Excel and Powerpoint and this
should be availble by the end of the year (Novembre 2007), so stay tuned and
keep on providing feedback as this will help us in future development!
.
However M$ office is more equal than others.
So I
should help M$ corupt an OASIS approved format instead of forcing M$ to
conform to a standard.
No. I won't do it.
Will anyone else take the
bait??
- moosie.
---
"Look here brother, who you jivin' with
that cosmic debris" - Frank Zappa
[ Reply to This | # ]
|
| |
| Authored by: webmink on Thursday, February 08 2007 @ 03:45 AM EST |
I've written a little more about Sun's plug-in on my
blog. What we've done is a streamlined build of OpenOffice.org that omits
all
the UI and just leaves the file convertors as a "helper" library, much
smaller
than a full OO.o. It only works on Windows right now.
We have
then written some code along the same lines as the Da Vinci
folks to add ODF as
a peer file format for MS Word alongside RTF, DOC and
all the others. Thus we
make Office 2003
(and probably earlier versions) able to read and write ODF and
use it as a
default format, seamless and invisible and intuitive. The
conversion is the
same quality as that in OO.o, so still
room for improvement
but probably as good as you'll get in 2007 from
anyone.
The OO.o engine
actually already includes the code for spreadsheet and
presentation support,
but we've not got the Excel and Powerpoint code ready
for prime-time yet. It's
coming, though.
The thing I like most about this approach is that by
simply building a
streamlines OO.o it leverages improvements in OO.o as they
are made, rather
than creating a separate code-base that someone has to keep
up-to-date.
First reports suggest it is just what's needed to empower users of
accessibility
devices, and that is the main design point for now. [ Reply to This | # ]
|
| |
| Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, February 08 2007 @ 05:05 AM EST |
In an ironic twist, training staff to convert from an existing
version of Office to an ODF-compliant product (such as OpenOffice or StarOffice)
might require less training (and related costs) than an upgrade to Office 2007,
due to the great deal of similarity between many ODF products and the current
version of Office, in contrast to the dramatic differences that exist between
Office 2007 and its predecessors.
ConsortiumInfo.org Blog
[ Reply to This | # ]
|
|
|
|
|
