Linspire to Help Create Open Source Translators for ODF and Open XML

Linspire Joins Microsoft in Developing and Deploying Open Source Translators between Document Formats

Future Versions of Linspire to Include Open XML Bi-Directional Translators Between ODF and Open XML

San Diego, CA, USA. July 02, 2007.

Linspire, Inc., developer of the Linspire commercial and Freespire community desktop Linux operating systems, today announced it will join the current efforts to improve the ability of OpenOffice.org users to work with the Office Open XML format by increasing the interoperability between ODF and Open XML.

Linspire is joining with others who have signed on to this effort, including Novell and Xandros, to create bi-directional open source translators for word processing, spreadsheets and presentations between ODF and Open XML. All future releases of Linspire and Freespire will include the bi-directional translators between ODF and Open XML. As a result, end users of Microsoft Office and OpenOffice.org will be able to more easily share files, as documents will better maintain consistent formats, formulas and style templates across the two office productivity suites.

"For Linux to gain acceptance beyond the server, it must interoperate within the broader desktop computing ecosystem," said Kevin Carmony, CEO of Linspire. "Interoperability with Microsoft Office documents is critical, and Linspire is pleased to join this ongoing effort with Novell and Microsoft to bring document interoperability to our mutual customer base."

The Open XML format is an open standard file format for office applications that can be freely implemented by multiple applications on multiple platforms. The Open XML format was standardized by Ecma International on December 7, 2006 and is also being implemented by multiple applications on multiple platforms. It is now under consideration for ratification by ISO/IEC JTC1. Open XML is the default format for the recently released Microsoft Office 2007. The Open XML format is also available through free updates to past Microsoft Office versions.

"This is good news for customers. Linspire and Microsoft share the view that it should be easy for users of competing office productivity applications to exchange files with one another and XML is pivotal in that regard," said Jean Paoli, general manager for Interoperability and XML Architecture at Microsoft. "We believe in delivering interoperability by design for the benefit of our customers. Our ongoing collaborative relationships with commercial open source companies like Linspire help us achieve that goal."

With an estimated 100 million users, OpenOffice.org is a full-featured, open source office productivity suite with word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and database applications. OpenOffice.org currently supports the OpenDocument (ODF) file format, which is an ISO-standardized, XML-based file format specification for office applications maintained by the open source community. The OpenDocument format ensures information saved in spreadsheets, documents and presentations is freely accessible to any OpenDocument-supporting application. OpenOffice.org is available free of charge at http://www.openoffice.org. The open source Open XML/ODF Translator project can be viewed at this internet location: http://sourceforge.net/projects/odf-converter.

About Linspire

Linspire, Inc. (http://www.linspire.com) was founded in 2001 to bring choice into the operating system market. The company's flagship product, the Linspire operating system, is an affordable, easy-to-use Linux-based operating system distributed primarily pre-installed on PCs for home, school, and business users. Linspire pioneered CNR Technology, which allows Linspire users access to thousands of software programs, each of which can be downloaded and installed with just one mouse click. The thousands of software titles available in the CNR Warehouse (http://www.linspire.com/cnr) include full office and productivity suites, games, multimedia players, photo management software, accounting tools, and more.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Contact

Linspire, Inc.
Tel: +1 858-587-6700 ext 183
FAX: +1 858-587-8095
Email: pr@linspireinc.com

[Source: http://www.linspire.com/lindows_news_pressreleases_archives.php?id=220]

Resources

Project Page on SourceForge: https://sourceforge.net/projects/odf-converter/

The goal for this project is to provide translators to allow for interoperability between applications based on ODF (OpenDocument) 1.0 standards and Microsoft OpenXML based Office applications.

Web Site Overview: OpenXML/ODF Translator Add-ins for Office

The goal for this project is to provide translators to allow for interoperability between applications based on ODF (OpenDocument) 1.0 standards and Microsoft OpenXML based Office applications. As a part of this interoperability initiative, add-ins are being developed that can be installed on top of Microsoft Office Word (document processing), Excel (spreadsheet) and PowerPoint (presentation) applications (Office 2007 / 2003 / XP version) to allow for opening and saving OpenDocument format / ODF files (.odt, .ods and .odp) that adheres to ODF 1.0 specifications. We also provide command line translator utilities that allow doing batch conversions.

The converter is based on XSL transformations between two XML formats, along with some pre- and post-processing to manage the packaging (zip / unzip), schema incompatibility processings and the integration into Microsoft Office applications like Word, Excel and PowerPoint. We chose to use an Open Source development model that allows developers from all around the world to participate & contribute to the project.

Along with the Add-ins for Microsoft Word (v1.0 released), Excel (under development) and PowerPoint (under development), we also provide a command line translator that allows doing batch conversions. These translators can also be run on the server side for certain scenarios.

Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive. See also "Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument)."

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Linspire, Inc., developer of the Linspire commercial and Freespire community desktop Linux operating systems, today announced it will join the current efforts to improve the ability of OpenOffice.org users to work with the Office Open XML format by increasing the interoperability between ODF and Open XML. Linspire is joining with others who have signed on to this effort, including Novell and Xandros, to create bi-directional open source translators for word processing, spreadsheets and presentations between ODF and Open XML. All future releases of Linspire and Freespire will include the bi-directional translators between ODF and Open XML. As a result, end users of Microsoft Office and OpenOffice.org will be able to more easily share files, as documents will better maintain consistent formats, formulas and style templates across the two office productivity suites. "For Linux to gain acceptance beyond the server, it must interoperate within the broader desktop computing ecosystem," said Kevin Carmony, CEO of Linspire. "Interoperability with Microsoft Office documents is critical, and Linspire is pleased to join this ongoing effort with Novell and Microsoft to bring document interoperability to our mutual customer base." The Open XML format is an open standard file format for office applications that can be freely implemented by multiple applications on multiple platforms. The Open XML format was standardized by Ecma International on December 7, 2006 and is also being implemented by multiple applications on multiple platforms. It is now under consideration for ratification by ISO/IEC JTC1. Open XML is the default format for the recently released Microsoft Office 2007. The Open XML format is also available through free updates to past Microsoft Office versions. "This is good news for customers. Linspire and Microsoft share the view that it should be easy for users of competing office productivity applications to exchange files with one another and XML is pivotal in that regard," said Jean Paoli, general manager for Interoperability and XML Architecture at Microsoft. "We believe in delivering interoperability by design for the benefit of our customers. Our ongoing collaborative relationships with commercial open source companies like Linspire help us achieve that goal." With an estimated 100 million users, OpenOffice.org is a full-featured, open source office productivity suite with word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and database applications. OpenOffice.org currently supports the OpenDocument (ODF) file format, which is an ISO-standardized, XML-based file format specification for office applications maintained by the open source community. The OpenDocument format ensures information saved in spreadsheets, documents and presentations is freely accessible to any OpenDocument-supporting application. OpenOffice.org is available free of charge at http://www.openoffice.org. The open source Open XML/ODF Translator project can be viewed at this internet location: http://sourceforge.net/projects/odf-converter. About Linspire Linspire, Inc. (http://www.linspire.com) was founded in 2001 to bring choice into the operating system market. The company's flagship product, the Linspire operating system, is an affordable, easy-to-use Linux-based operating system distributed primarily pre-installed on PCs for home, school, and business users. Linspire pioneered CNR Technology, which allows Linspire users access to thousands of software programs, each of which can be downloaded and installed with just one mouse click. The thousands of software titles available in the CNR Warehouse (http://www.linspire.com/cnr) include full office and productivity suites, games, multimedia players, photo management software, accounting tools, and more. About Microsoft Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. Contact Linspire, Inc. Tel: +1 858-587-6700 ext 183 FAX: +1 858-587-8095 Email: pr@linspireinc.com [Source: http://www.linspire.com/lindows_news_pressreleases_archives.php?id=220] Resources Project Page on SourceForge: https://sourceforge.net/projects/odf-converter/ The goal for this project is to provide translators to allow for interoperability between applications based on ODF (OpenDocument) 1.0 standards and Microsoft OpenXML based Office applications. Web Site Overview: OpenXML/ODF Translator Add-ins for Office The goal for this project is to provide translators to allow for interoperability between applications based on ODF (OpenDocument) 1.0 standards and Microsoft OpenXML based Office applications. As a part of this interoperability initiative, add-ins are being developed that can be installed on top of Microsoft Office Word (document processing), Excel (spreadsheet) and PowerPoint (presentation) applications (Office 2007 / 2003 / XP version) to allow for opening and saving OpenDocument format / ODF files (.odt, .ods and .odp) that adheres to ODF 1.0 specifications. We also provide command line translator utilities that allow doing batch conversions. The converter is based on XSL transformations between two XML formats, along with some pre- and post-processing to manage the packaging (zip / unzip), schema incompatibility processings and the integration into Microsoft Office applications like Word, Excel and PowerPoint. We chose to use an Open Source development model that allows developers from all around the world to participate & contribute to the project. Along with the Add-ins for Microsoft Word (v1.0 released), Excel (under development) and PowerPoint (under development), we also provide a command line translator that allows doing batch conversions. These translators can also be run on the server side for certain scenarios. Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive. See also "Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument)."