ODF Plugin for MSOffice

This entry was originally published at My Slice of the Globe

Massachusetts (MA) made a request yesterday for a plugin that would allow for seamless integration of ODF (Open Document Format) into Office. You can see that request here. A day later the The OpenDocument Foundation responds that they have a plugin that is compatible with current versions of Word, and going back to Word97. You can read more about that on Groklaw here. So for the first time, you will be able to completely seamlessly share and develop a document between Word, OpenOffice, AbiWord, and other programs.

The MS Office vs MA showdown been like watching a software soap opera and apparently Office has just developed an inoperable brain tumor so that it can be written out of the script. Ok, I don’t watch Soaps but I imagine that is what would happen if Office were in one.

But I digress, the plugin is apparently not yet available for general consumption but is available to the state of Massachussetts so that they can begin their testing.

BTW, you can download a completely free office suite that supports ODF as well as Office formats here.