Microsoft Corp. announced the launch of its Document Interoperability Initiative, which is aimed at promoting user choice among document formats and expanded opportunity for developers, partners and competitors. The launch of this initiative is an important step in Microsoft's commitment to implement a set of strategic changes in its technology and business practices to expand interoperability through the implementation of its interoperability principles. The Document Interoperability Initiative focuses on bringing vendors together to promote interoperability between document format implementations through testing and refining those implementations, creation of format implementation test suites, and the creation of templates designed for optimal interoperability between different formats.

    Microsoft hosted in Cambridge a number of independent software vendors, including Novell Inc., Mark Logic Corp., Quickoffice Inc., DataViz Inc. and Nuance Communications Inc., to launch this collaborative, community-based initiative. The Cambridge event is the first in a series of labs around the world that will bring together vendors to test interoperability between their implementations of well-known document formats, and between implementations of different formats. The Cambridge lab will test interoperability between existing implementations of Microsoft Office Open XML Formats and the Open Document Format on a variety of platforms and devices including Mac OS X Leopard, iPhone, Palm OS, Symbian OS, Linux and Windows Mobile.

    The labs will also include a set of integrated round table discussions between vendors about what steps should be taken to promote real-world interoperability between document format implementations in the marketplace. This will include discussions about how testing can be refined, how best to develop conformance testing suites for popular formats, and how to create document templates that are optimized for interoperability between different format implementations.

    According to Tom Robertson, general manager, Interoperability and Standards at Microsoft, "Microsoft recognizes that users want to choose the document format that best suits their needs and that vendors have a responsibility to work together to achieve interoperability between different format implementations. The Document Interoperability Initiative brings vendors together to achieve real-world interoperability between documents that customers use through testing of implementations, building conformance test suites and creating document formats that optimize interoperability between different formats. As part of the interoperability principles we announced on Feb. 21, this initiative helps achieve our goal of reshaping business practices to meet the interoperability needs of our customers and the market."

    To guide Microsoft in its work under these principles, Microsoft will rely on input from the Interoperability Executive Customer Council, a customer advisory council consisting mainly of Chief Information Officers and Chief Technology Officers of large enterprises and government departments from around the world. In addition to other sources of community and customer input, the Council will provide important direction to Microsoft concerning matters such as which new or updated standards are most important for implementation in Microsoft’s products and how best to ensure interoperability in scenarios where existing industry implementations of a standard may subtly vary from one another.

    Also announced is the 1.1 release of a translator between ODF and Open XML for Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint applications. This is the result of an ongoing open source project for which Microsoft announced its support in July 2006. Key performance enhancements and end-user improvements reflected in the new translators are based on feedback received from numerous public and private organizations.