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Microsoft wants to expand Office 2007's repository of document formats. The company will announce today that it will sponsor an [open-source project][1] to create a converter between OOXML, Office 2007's default file format, and the Chinese standard known as the Unified Office Format (UOF).
Microsoft has already announced it will support Open Document Format (ODF), the existing ISO standard for office documents. But with ODF, OOXML and now UOF support Office users may be scratching their heads and wondering which is best.
In terms of interoperability, ODF unquestionably already has the upper hand since it enjoys support in both Office 2007, OpenOffice and a number of online document services like Google Apps.
Sun has already suggested that the Chinese format, which came about because of the lack of compatibility between documents generated by existing Chinese office software, ought to be merged with the ODF format.
However, despite the fact that both are open formats there are, [according to Wikipedia][4], "significant technical challenges in achieving a merger, as the two formats have made different fundamental choices in how to describe documents."
Even if the two never merge, there are already converters to [translate ODF to UOF][3] and vice versa and now, with Microsoft's announcement it should be possible to move your data between all three formats with relative ease.
For more information on the UOF format and how it fits with the current office format wars, check out the [Standards Blog][2], which has a detailed breakdown on the issue.
[1]: http://uof-translator.sourceforge.net/ "UOF Add-in for Microsoft Word"
[2]: http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=2006110806164573 "Another Open Document Format – From China"
[3]: http://odf-to-uof.sourceforge.net/index.html "ODF-UOF Converter"
[4]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UOF "Uniform Office Format"
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