Last week I had an article on Wired.com about [Microsoft's new Open Office XML document format][4], which will debut with Office 2007 later this month. In the article I wrote that the new format is not backwards compatible with previous version of the Office suite. While this is true, a number of savvy readers have written to tell me that there is an [upgrade pack available][1] for older versions of Office which will allow them to interact with the new OOXML formatted documents. Microsoft's own documentation is a little vague on what you can do with the converters once they're installed, some of the documentation says, "read Open Office XML files" and other in other places the tech notes say read and write. Hopefully the later case is the accurate one. One thing I haven't seen is whether or not the converters allow you to create new documents in the OOXML format or whether this is simply a way for legacy Office users to interact with documents they might receive from Office 2007 users. The Mac Business Unit has [posted converters][2] for Office Mac users and there's also a [rumor][3] that Apple's next OS X, Leopard, will have native support for Open Office XML. I'm currently downloading the Office 2007 demo so I can create some OOXML documents and play around with them in older versions of Office, but in the mean time if you have any experience let your fellow Monkey Bites readers know in the comments below. [1]: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=941B3470-3AE9-4AEE-8F43-C6BB74CD1466 "Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word Excel and Powerpoint 2007 File Formats" [2]: http://blogs.msdn.com/macmojo/archive/2006/12/19/and-we-re-back.aspx "Mac BU blog on Office 2007 compatibility" [3]: http://blog.wired.com/cultofmac/2006/12/rumor_leopard_t.html "Cult of Mac: Rumor: Leopard to Support Office 2007 Files" [4]: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/software/0,72403-0.html?tw=wn_technology_5 "MS Fights to Own Your Office Docs"