Microsoft to make Word play nicely

Microsoft is to add support for new document formats to Office, including XML Paper Specification (XPS), Portable Document Format (PDF) 1.5, PDF/A and Open Document Format (ODF) v1.1.

The formats will be supported in the release of Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 2 scheduled for the first half of 2009.

Customers using SP2 will be able to open, edit and save documents using ODF and save documents into the XPS and PDF fixed formats from directly within the application without having to install any other code.

The new support will also allow customers to set ODF as the default file format for Office 2007.

Microsoft has also defined a roadmap for its implementation of the newly ratified International Standard ISO/IEC 29500 (Office Open XML).

IS29500 was approved by the International Organisation for Standardisation and International Electrotechnical Commission in March.

The format is already supported in Office 2007, but the company plans to update this support in the next major version release of the Microsoft Office system, codenamed Office 14.

"We are committed to providing Office users with greater choice among document formats and enhanced interoperability between those formats and the applications that implement them," said Chris Capossela, senior vice president for the Microsoft Business Division.