<font class="contentText"> <b>Microsoft said it plans to sponsor an open-source project to create software that will convert Office documents to OpenDocument, a rival format gaining ground, particularly among governments. </b><table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://ads.com.com/Ads/common/advertisement.gif" alt="advertisement" height="10" width="120"><br></div><iframe src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/N1841.cnet.com/B1764282.11;sz=300x250;ord=2006.07.07.08.53.25?" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" hspace="0" vspace="0" bordercolor="#000000" frameborder="0" height="250" scrolling="no" width="300"> <SCRIPT language='JavaScript1.1' SRC="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/N1841.cnet.com/B1764282.11;abr=!ie;sz=300x250;ord=2006.07.07.08.53.25?"> </SCRIPT> <NOSCRIPT> <A HREF="http://adlog.com.com/adlog/c/r=8532&s=643490&t=2006.07.07.08.53.25&o=3513:&h=cn&p=2&b=9&l=en_US&site=11&pt=2100&nd=3513&pid=&cid=6090912&pp=100&rqid=00c17-ad-e744AD73B16EC71D/http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/N1841.cnet.com/B1764282.11;abr=!ie4;abr=!ie5;sz=300x250;ord=2006.07.07.08.53.25?"> <IMG SRC="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/N1841.cnet.com/B1764282.11;abr=!ie4;abr=!ie5;sz=300x250;ord=2006.07.07.08.53.25?" BORDER=0 WIDTH=300 HEIGHT=250 ALT="Click Here"></A> </NOSCRIPT> </iframe><img src="http://adlog.com.com/adlog/i/r=8532&s=643490&t=2006.07.07.08.53.25&o=3513:&h=cn&p=2&b=9&l=en_US&site=11&pt=2100&nd=3513&pid=&cid=6090912&pp=100&rqid=00c17-ad-e744AD73B16EC71D/http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/Ads/common/dotclear.gif" alt="" style="position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 0px;" height="0" width="0"></td></tr></tbody></table></font><div> <font class="contentText">The software giant on Thursday launched the <a href="http://dw.com.com/redir?destUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fsourceforge.net%2Fprojects%2Fodf-converter&siteId=11&oId=2100-3513-6090912&ontId=3513&lop=nl_ex">Open XML Translator</a> project on SourceForge.net, a popular site for hosting code-sharing projects. The software will be available under the <a href="http://dw.com.com/redir?destUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.opensource.org%2Flicenses%2Fbsd-license.php&siteId=11&oId=2100-3513-6090912&ontId=3513&lop=nl_ex">BSD</a> open-source license. </font></div><div> <font class="contentText">The software, developed by a France-based Microsoft partner, will allow people to use Microsoft Office to open and save documents in the OpenDocument, or ODF, format. </font></div><div> <font class="contentText">Although Microsoft Office document formats are the most widely used, OpenDocument has emerged as an alternative with <a href="http://techrepublic.com.com/2100-3513_11-5942913.html?tag=nl" title="OpenDocument format gathers steam -- Thursday, Nov 10, 2005">significant vendor backing</a> and with high-profile government customers in <a href="http://techrepublic.com.com/2100-7343_11-6090196.html?tag=nl" title="Mass. holding tight to OpenDocument -- Wednesday, Jul 5, 2006">Massachusetts</a> and Belgium. OpenDocument is an XML-based format developed under the standards group <a href="http://dw.com.com/redir?destUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.oasis-open.org&siteId=11&oId=2100-3513-6090912&ontId=3513&lop=nl_ex">OASIS</a>, or the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards. </font></div><div> <font class="contentText">The decision to manage the project is something of a reversal for Microsoft. Until now, it said that it would not natively support OpenDocument in Office, citing lack of demand. Instead, it would rely instead on third parties for format translators. </font></div><div> <font class="contentText">Microsoft isn't seeing a sharp uptick in demand for OpenDocument, but government customers urged the company to <a href="http://techrepublic.com.com/2100-10877_11-6058667.html?tag=nl" title="Is Microsoft playing well with others? -- Friday, Apr 7, 2006">provide interoperability</a> between Microsoft's own forthcoming XML Office formats and OpenDocument, said Tom Robertson, the general manager of interoperability and standards at the software giant. </font></div><div> <font class="contentText">"We're hearing that (customers) don't want homogeneity--they want diversity; they want translatability," Robertson said. "And some customers are saying they would like us to focus on this to a certain extent, to make sure the product is high quality." </font></div><div><font class="contentText"><b>Conversion schedule</b><br>On Thursday, the Open XML Translator project intends to release a prototype of software that will change Word documents to OpenDocument, and vice versa. The goal is to have a Word plug-in for Office 2007 by the end of this year and translators for Excel and PowerPoint next year, said Jean Paoli, the general manager of interoperability and XML architecture at Microsoft. </font></div><div> <font class="contentText">The conversions will be based on Microsoft's <a href="http://techrepublic.com.com/2100-3513_11-5965443.html?tag=nl" title="Microsoft to standardize Office formats -- Monday, Nov 21, 2005">Open Office XML</a>, the XML-based file formats that will be the default setting in Office 2007, due next year. Microsoft is seeking to make Open Office XML an <a href="http://dw.com.com/redir?destUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ecma-international.org&siteId=11&oId=2100-3513-6090912&ontId=3513&lop=nl_ex">Ecma International</a> standard by the end of this year, Paoli said. </font></div><div> <font class="contentText">Because Open Office XML is backward-compatible, the translator will work with older versions of Office, Paoli said. However, he said that because the two standards are significantly different, perfect document translation is not possible. </font></div> <newselement>  </newselement>  <div> <font class="contentText">"We wanted to have this project be really transparent," Paoli said. "No translation is perfect. There are a lot of trade-offs between Open XML, which is actually full-featured and backward-compatible, and ODF, which is more limited." </font></div><div> <font class="contentText">For example, participants in the project will have to make a technical choice if there is a feature in Office 2007 that is not supported in OpenDocument-based products, he said. </font></div><div> <font class="contentText">Paoli said that Microsoft is managing the project and providing some resources. </font></div><div> <font class="contentText">France-based <a href="http://dw.com.com/redir?destUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.clever-age.com%2F&siteId=11&oId=2100-3513-6090912&ontId=3513&lop=nl_ex">Clever Age</a> is writing the code and will participate in the project. <a href="http://dw.com.com/redir?destUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aztecsoft.com%2F&siteId=11&oId=2100-3513-6090912&ontId=3513&lop=nl_ex">Aztecsoft</a> in India is testing the software, and <a href="http://dw.com.com/redir?destUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dialogika.de%2F&siteId=11&oId=2100-3513-6090912&ontId=3513&lop=nl_ex">Dialogika</a> in Germany will test it to meet European Commission customer requirements. </font></div><div> <font class="contentText">A handful of document format converters are already under development, including an Office plug-in from the <a href="http://techrepublic.com.com/2100-10877_11-6069188.html?tag=nl" title="Microsoft Office to get a dose of OpenDocument -- Friday, May 5, 2006">OpenDocument Foundation</a>, which is expected to be tested by Massachusetts. </font></div> <font class="contentText">Paoli said Microsoft expects that there will be a number of translators.</font><p> <hr size=1>How low will we go? 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