Open XML is not just a new file format for the latest version of Microsoft Office, but an open standard capable of expressing any Word, Excel or PowerPoint document.

Originally published on DNJ Online, Jun 2007

The 2007 Microsoft Office system brings many changes but the most significant, as far as organisations of any size will be concerned, is one that few end-users will ever see. This is the new Office Open XML file format used by Word, Excel and PowerPoint 2007 to store documents. For Office 2007, Microsoft has adopted a native file format that, while able to support all the features of Office documents back to Office 2000, is also an open standard capable of being read, manipulated and extended by third-parties.

The Office Open XML standard was approved by Ecma International (previously the European Computer Manufacturers Association) in December 2006 and represents the collaborative effort of some 20 members including vendors such as Apple, Intel and Novell, and organisations such as BP, Barclays Capital, The British Library and the US Library of Congress. It has now been submitted to the ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee for ratification. The full specification runs to over 6,000 pages but a useful overview can also be found at www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-376.htm. Read More