Office 2007 adds Open Document support

Microsoft said on Tuesday that it is releasing the second service pack update for Office 2007. The collection of minor updates is available for download.

The service pack includes a collection of stability and performance updates as well as support for more file formats including Open Document Format (ODF) and Portable Document Format (PDF) files. Microsoft had said last May that it would add support for the additional file formats.

The company had said to expect the service pack to arrive sometime between February and April.

In addition to the performance and stability tweaks, Microsoft added a few minor feature changes.

"Users should notice the improved performance and stability of Outlook, better charting functionality in Excel, and more control over the appearance of SmartArt graphics," Microsoft group product manager Jane Liles said in an article posted on Microsoft's Web site.

The ODF Alliance, a collection of supporters of that file format, praised its inclusion in the Office update.

This action reflects the global market demand, particularly by governments, for open standards-based interoperability through ODF," ODF Alliance managing director Marino Marcich said in a statement. "This is a victory for ODF, as it signifies a reversal of course by Microsoft from their decision to shun the format during the initial launch of Office 2007."

[Alex Alexzander]

My office still uses Excel and Word, while I have entirely switched to Open Office at home, and would love it if the office would switch to OpenOffice. I think it is easier to use. Being able to open my native ODT files is a big plus for me. I don't like to save in MS formats.

Good news for a change.

[solu1978]

Open Office is no were closer to MS office .. The only best thing about Open Office is its free.

[rapier1]

The only problem I have with OpenOffice is that its performance is atrocious for more complex documents. This is pretty much a deal killer for me.

[FutureGuy]

you mean OpenOffice from Oracle? Wow the irony.

[shootthecops]

support will be crippled, won't keep up to date with the standards and will be fragmented the way IE treated the internets.

[Ice Moose]

The standard itself is crippled. As well as the process to evolve it. Its 1.2 version is already a few years behind the schedule.
Juging by your nick, you are still in mental pampers. Grow up, write an app or two for a change based on any open standard and try to follow them as closely as you can. Then come back and read your comments again.

[shootthecops]

wow, someone named "Ice Moose" criticised my username. when is the last time a police officer in the United States got a conviction for shooting down an unarmed citizen?

How come firefox, opera and safari, browsers with smaller budgets than Microsoft can get the standards so much better? Extend, Embrace & Extinguish. They are going to extinguish by fracturing the standard, simple as that.

[Angmarr]

gotta say office 2007 is quite good!

[beat_elite]

yes i agree it's good especially powerpoint 07 since it's 10x easier to use than office 03, but i didn't feel the need to dish out $90-130 to get only a few licenses from MS (since my family has 5 computers). Openoffice works like Word '03, which i had only a few minor problems with and their powerpoint copy works much better than '03 powerpoint.

[rob1400]

Just installed this SP2 this afternoon and my Outlook kept crashing whenever it started up, rendering it unusable completely. Just did a system restore to remove SP2 to recover. The same problem has also been reported by another user on Betanews.com. Will have to wait till Microsoft finds out and fixes the issue before taking the dive again.

[saintckk]

So what would you call that? Service pack to the Service pack 2? MS when will you get things right? Installed the service pack 2, no big deal! For all those who bashing open office and praise mighty MS office, try format a word document with few sets and sub-sets of page numbering in a single document, and tell me how you feel thereafter? MS never get it right where Word Perfect got it on spot on, more than 10 years ago.

[rob1400]

I just gave SP2 a second try. Outlook still crashed every time it started. Out of the blue, I tried starting Outlook in safe-mode (by starting it while pressing the ctrl key) and, viola, it started fine. It proceeded to update all of my folders and it is working ok now.

[winstonoyy]

Inclusion of the format is just a gimmick. Until the default file format used and saved is ODF or open XML, open source formats will not be commonly used. If anything, look at IE's usage for answers.

Common users don't think much about file formats when saving their work. If future MS Office suites can save to open formats by default, then open formats truly have a victory in their hands.

[KTLA_knew]

"Until the default file format used and saved is ODF or open XML, open source formats will not be commonly used."

Office 2007 does save as open XML by default.

[Dalkorian]

OOXML? Pardon me while I puke ... isn't that the bastardized format M$ came up with and bribed through the standards process in order to try to take steam from the real open format, ODF?

Personally, I wouldn't use that obnoxious, confusing and unworkable 6000+ page OOXML "specification" on a bet (hey, why don't we define an "open standard" using proprietary standards no one else has a right to!). It's nothing more than another whip and chain to keep the M$ slaves on the plantation - which I find extremely offensive and revolting.

Again, pardon me while I puke my guts out ...