Open XML In Use
Hundreds of ISVs and platform providers around the world are developing solutions using Open XML. Open XML is platform independent, allowing these solutions to be implemented on a wide range of technologies including Linux, Windows, Mac OS, Palm OS, Java, .NET, open source software, and more.
Why are hundreds of ISV and platform providers using and developing solutions on Open XML? Philip Lieberman, President of Lieberman Software says: "We're platform agnostic, open, and available to any technology, but the drive is for Open XML. It represents the least risk, the highest reward, and the highest probability of hitting our delivery dates."
Below is just a sample of the ever growing list of great technology that supports Open XML.
Find more applications and platforms supporting and implementing Open XML here.
April 2, 2008
ISO/IEC DIS 29500 receives necessary votes for approval as an International Standard
Office Open XML file formats, has received the necessary number of votes for approval as an ISO/IEC International Standard. ISO/IEC 29500 is a standard for word-processing documents, presentations and spreadsheets that is intended to be implemented by multiple applications on multiple platforms. The issues addressed and revised have resulted in sufficient national bodies withdrawing their earlier disapproval votes, or transforming them into positive votes, so that the criteria for approval of the document as an International Standard have now been met.
Read the Press Release
March 18, 2008
I.R.I.S. Announces Cooperation with Microsoft
Belgium-based company I.R.I.S. Group published a press release today announcing cooperation with Microsoft that will result in Open XML being supported as an input and output format in the I.R.I.S. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and document compression server.
Read the Press Release
March 12, 2008
Competitiveness and Innovation on the Committee's 50th Anniversary with Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft
Bill Gates testified at the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Science and Technology's 50th Anniversary Hearing on Competitiveness and Innovation. Congressman Brian Baird asked a question about Open XML and in his response, Gates highlighted the importance of standards and noted that Open XML is an ISO standard will offer many benefits.
View the YouTube Video
March 12, 2008
Microsoft Releasing OOXML SDK
Microsoft plans to release the final beta of the Office Open XML Software Development Kit (SDK) next month, and release version 1.0 in May. The SDK will enable developers to write applications that can open, read and otherwise work with OOXML documents, or port existing applications that work with documents in older Microsoft formats over to OOXML.
Read the Computerworld Article
March 6, 2008
Intergen Launches New Open XML Web Application
On Thursday, at MIX08, New Zealand based software company, Intergen, announced a new product called TextGlow that combines Office Open XML and Silverlight technology to make documents viewable via a Web browser. Users will be able to view Open XML documents without having to download the files, a first of its kind, according to Intergen.
Read the Computerworld Article
March 5, 2008
Digital Signature Utility for Open XML-based Documents
Students at Laboratório de Tecnologia da Informação Aplicada da UNESP/Bauru ("UNESP/Bauru Applied Information Technology Laboratory") explore some of the new demands in terms of electronic documents, such as authenticity, integrity, and legal validity, in the development of the "Digital Signature" utility. This utility aims at providing support for Digital Signatures in compliance with both the specifications of open standards for electronic documents and the techniques, practices, and procedures approved by ICP-Brasil (the Brazilian PKI) among others. It analyses the open standard format of electronic documents and its support to digital signatures in these formats and the syntax of the W3C XML-Dsig recommendation. In its conclusion, it highlights a utility with support to the Office Open XML and EPS standards as well as the lack of regulation on digital signatures in the OpenDocument Format specification.
View the YouTube video
February 15, 2008
Microsoft offers patent protection for Office binaries
Microsoft said that it has added Office binary formats to a list of technologies that are protected against patent-violation claims, answering criticism from some involved in the OOXML (Office Open XML) file-format standards process. The OOXML format is being considered as an international standard by the ISO (International Organization for Standardization), but translation between the original Office binaries and OOXML is necessary for there to be seamless document exchange between older versions of Office and Office 2007. Corporate developers and makers of other office productivity products need access to the formats in order to write converters between Microsoft's format and the possible standard.
Read the InfoWorld article
February 11, 2008
ComponentOne and Open XML Press Announcement
It was announced today that "ComponentOne's Open XML Compliant Components Will Be On Showcase at the 2008 Microsoft Office System Developer Conference." According to ComponentOne's Managing Director, Gustavo Eydelsteyn, they are committed to building solutions that fully enable Open XML such as C1 Excel and C1 Flex Grid and recently released ComponentOne Studio Enterprise 2007 v3 that supports both Windows Forms and Webforms, with respect to the 2007 Microsoft Office system and the Windows Vista user interface.
Read the Fox Business News Article
February 11, 2008
Sonata and Microsoft Collaboration Press Announcement
Sonata announced today the launch of SonnetPORTAL, a Solution Accelerator Framework on Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. In addition, they mentioned their collaboration with Microsoft on developing an open source translator plug in for Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 to translate Office Open XML presentation documents and vice versa as well as collaboration with Microsoft and the DAISY Consortium in creating an open source translator plug to translatethe Microsoft Word documents to DTBook format. Sonata Software will be featuring some of their Office solutions, including Open XML to DAISY XML translator at this year's Microsoft Office System Developer Conference (ODC), February 10 through 13.
Read the Sonata Press Release
January 16, 2008
Microsoft OOXML finds favour in Malaysia
In Malaysia, a growing number of Malaysian IT companies and independent software vendors (ISVs) are incorporating OOXML (Office Open XML) into their offerings including Tradenex.com, the IT arm of the Federal of Malaysian Manufacturer, that represents over 2,000 manufacturing and industrial service companies. Last month, they launched nexCONNECT, an electronic business collaboration platform that links suppliers, distributors, logistics and financial institutions via the web.
Read the ZDNet.co.uk article
December 18, 2007
Quickoffice Supports Office 2007 File Formats
Quickoffice Premier 5.0 released an application for viewing and editing Microsoft Office 2007 system files on devices that run the Symbian S60 software platform. With Quickoffice, users can now open, view, edit, and create Word and Excel 2007 documents in the XML format on their S60 devices.
Read the InformationWeek article
December 17, 2007
Haansoft Announces Support for Open Document Standards
On Thursday, December 13, the Korean based software company, Haansoft, announced that it planned to support not only Open Document Format (ODF), but also Open XML in its next release of Hangul software for Windows. This plan is based on their conclusion that ODF is not fully capable of supporting diagram based documents which are frequently used in enterprises and government institutions. Haansoft plans to cultivate its competitive power and lead the standardization of domestic office documentation by supporting internationally recognized open documentation standards.
Read the ZDNet Korea article
November 13, 2007
Microsoft and DAISY Announce Open XML to DAISY XML Converter
Today Microsoft and the Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY) Consortium announced a joint standards-based development project that will make it possible for computer users who are blind or print disabled to make better use of assistive technology in their daily lives. A reference model for other Open XML solution providers, this open technical collaboration project on SourceForge.net will yield a free, downloadable plug-in for Microsoft Office Word that can translate Open XML-based documents into DAISY XML, the foundation of the globally accepted DAISY Standard for reading and publishing navigable multimedia content. The plug-in is expected to be launched early next year and will be compatible with the versions of Word within Office XP, 2003, and 2007.
Read the eWEEK article
October 23, 2007
RosettaNet Malaysia Introduces SMI Business Standard Using Open XML
Non-profit organization RosettaNet Malyasia announced the release of a business-to-business standard called RosettaNet Automated Enablement standard (RAE) using Ecma Open XML document standard. RAE based solutions help Small and Medium Industries (SMIs) facilitate wider success of e-commerce while assuring long-term preservation of data, enabling them to participate in the global automated business community. Open XML's capability of storing and managing business data in documents has resulted in lowering costs for business process automation that will enhance global competitiveness for SMIs worldwide.
October 3, 2007
New WordPerfect Office Beta Includes OOXML and ODF Support
Corel Corporation, a leading developer of graphics, productivity, and digital media software, announced a new beta version of Corel WordPerfect Office that supports both the Open Document Format (ODF) and Microsoft Office Open XML (OOXML), the default file format for Microsoft Office 2007.
Read the article
August 15, 2007
ThinkFree Write Supports Open XML
ThinkFree, an affiliate of HaanSoft (a.k.a. Hancomm), announced that their web-based editor ThinkFree Write now supports Open XML.
ThinkFree Write now supports Open XML
August 8, 2007
Apple iWorks Latest to Support Open XML
Apple iWorks is just the latest application to adopt the Open XML standard as part of its solution. It joins a growing list of hundreds of products that are utilizing and developing solutions based on Open XML.
Read More
July 27, 2007
Apple iPhone Supports Open XML
The iPhone comes ready with built in support for viewing email attachments sent in the Open XML word processing and spreadsheet formats.
Read Brian Jones's blog for more information
July 23, 2007
PHP Excel 2007-07-23 Release 1.4.0 Out Now!
Project providing a set of classes for the PHP programming language, which allow you to read and write to Open XML spreadsheet files.
July 6, 2007
ODF to Open XML Translator Project
The ODF to Open XML Translator Project is a collaborative project to build a set of tools that will allow organizations that have standardized on Microsoft Office to work with ODF (Open Document Format) documents as produced by Sun's StarOffice and the open-source office suite OpenOffice. For more information about the details of the translator project, see the links in this article on OpenXMLDeveloper.org.
July 4, 2007
Sun Plug-in Brings ODF Support to Microsoft Office
Sun Microsystems' has built a freely available ODF Plug-in for Microsoft Office that enables users to read, edit, and save ODF-formatted word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation documents using the 2000, XP, and 2003 versions of Microsoft Office.
July 1, 2007
BlueSpring Software Adopts Open XML
BlueSpring Software adopted the Open XML Formats to develop its business process management applications. Doing so speeds the development process by an estimated factor of 10 while providing greater functionality and flexibility for the company's customers.
Read the case study
June 8, 2007
Altova's XMLSpy Supports Open XML
Altova's XMLSpy now has rich support for working with the Open XML formats. Altova notes in their press release:
XMLSpy provides powerful support for accessing, editing, transforming, and querying XML data saved in Microsoft® Office 2007 documents and other zipped files.
Read more about Altova's use of Open XML
June 4, 2007
Java Open XML Development
Ted Neward's InfoQ article "Using Java to Crack Office 2007" provides an overview of Open XML development in Java. The article notes:
"It's exciting and inspiring to consider how open the Office platform is to the Java programmer. Between the interoperability of using Java within an Office application, using Office within a Java application, and being able to read and write Office file formats from Java, the Office platform is more open to the Java programming community than ever before."
June 4, 2007
Open XML Software Development Kit
Microsoft announced the release of an early preview of a managed API for the Open XML formats. This is a tool that is designed to make it easier for developers to build solutions on top of Open XML.
Read more on Doug Mahugh's and Stephen McGibbon's blogs
June 2, 2007
SoftFluent Implements Open XML
French solution provider SoftFluent has taken advantage of the new capabilities available in the standardized Open XML Formats to create Calypteo, a customizable energy-management application that helps clients' management applications be more collaborative and interoperable.
Read the case study
May 30, 2007
TGE Gas Engineering GmbH Develops Open XML Solution
TGE Gas Engineering GmbH builds facilities for transporting and processing gas. Its customers have high standards for project documentation content and formatting; even small mistakes are costly. The company worked with S&L Netzwerktechnik GmbH to build a solution based on Open XML Formats that automatically integrates existing content with the correct templates.
Read the case study
May 30, 2007
Java Implementation of Open XML
The OpenXML4J project announced its plans to develop "a Java library dedicated to the creation and manipulation of Office Open XML (ECMA-376) and OPC based documents (for example Office 2007 Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents). OpenXML4J provides you a way to create and manipulate Open XML documents for a bunch of scenarios without using any office suite."
May 20, 2007
UOF Translator Project
As part of its continued commitment to deliver interoperability by design, Microsoft Corporation today announced a new collaborative effort with the Beihang University (Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics) and others to create an open source translator project between China's Unified Office Format (UOF) and the Ecma Open XML File Formats.
Read the complete press release
Review the project on Sourceforge
April 30, 2007
Palm Devices Now Support Open XML Using Dataviz
Users of Palm handheld devices can now read and write Open XML documents (DOCX and XLSX formats) with the latest version of Dataviz's Documents To Go. Open XML support is now included in all versions and the Premium Edition also supports password protected files, charting, pictures, and spell checking for word processing files.
April 15, 2007
GulfStream Bioinformatics to Leverage Open XML
GulfStream Bioinformatics provides software that medical researchers use to aggregate and manage their data. The company wants to make it easier to export data from back end systems into spreadsheets and plans to use the Open XML Formats in its new product versions to give users the functionality they need, while decreasing estimated development time by 75 percent.
Read the case study
April 10, 2007
ILOG Leverages Open XML
"Open XML lets us run business rules directly on .NET, Java, the Web, and any kind of application," says Cyril Mathey, BRMS Product Architect at ILOG. The updated ILOG Rules for .NET uses Open XML to help expand profiles for decision makers, analysts, accountants, marketing departments, and business rules managers.
Read the case study
April 3, 2007
Package Explorer
Package Explorer is an open source project for Open XML development that provides the ability to operate directly on the XML with an Open XML document, validate the parts, or handle other common Open XML development chores. It was started by Wouter Van Vugt, one of the more well known voices in the Open XML community. Here is a video where Doug Mahugh and Wouter talk about the project.
May 5, 2007
OpenOffice Support for Open XML
Novell Inc. posted an Open XML translator for the OpenOffice.org productivity suite today. The OpenXML Translator provides support for opening and saving Open XML formatted word processing documents in OpenOffice.org.
Read the news article
Download Open XML Translator
February 27, 2007
Datawatch Leverages Open XML
Independent software vendor, Datawatch, has developed Monarch 9.0, a tool used to mine the data from reports in a variety of formats into spreadsheets. By writing its own export engine for the Open XML Formats, it cut down on development time by 85 percent, enjoyed better integration and easier regulatory compliance.
Read the case study
February 23, 2007
Office Migration Planning Manager Release
The Office Migration Planning Manager (OMPM) was released by Microsoft earlier this week. Among other things, it conducts a network scan to identify Microsoft Office documents and report on the statistics of those documents. It also provides for bulk updates of the existing binary documents (.doc, .xls, and .ppt) into the new file formats (.docx, .xlsx, and .pptx).
February 2, 2007
ODF to OpenXML Conversion Complete
The open source project for creating a translator between the ODF text format and the OpenXML word processing format has announced the release of version 1.0 of the tool. Within the first six hours of the release they already have had 10,000 downloads.
Read more about applications supporting and implementing Open XML.
