“Microsoft’s Office 2007 for Windows saves documents in a format that’s incompatible the company’s Mac Office application,” Macworld reports.
Macworld reports, “By default, Office 2007 saves documents in what the company calls ‘Microsoft Office Open XML.’ The new format applies across Word, Excel and PowerPoint applications on PCs using Office 2007. The formats are specifically termed: docx, xlsx and pptx.”
Microsoft’s “Mac Business Unit hasn’t yet delivered similar software for existing Mac installations of Office. It has promised to ship them, but hasn’t yet committed to a specific date for this.,” Macworld reports.
Full article here.
APC reports, “A spokesperson for the MBU reminded APC of its promise at WWDC that ‘free downloadable converters would be available’ following the release of Office 2007 for Windows, but was unable to tell us when. ‘Unfortunately it is still to early for us to say when the converters will be available,’ she said.”
“Of course, Office 2007 applications can save their documents in ‘backward compatible’ formats, but that be a pain for co-workers and Mac users alike,” APC reports.
“Perhaps the only good news to come out of the announcement is the reluctance of businesses to upgrade. According to some sources, businesses will wait up to two years to make the switch,” APC reports. “Perhaps Mac users will have the converters they need by then.”
Full article here.
Powers corrupts.
Monkey boy can’t be happy his poop colored player is bombing.
Hopefully Europe will help force more open standards for file formats.
We all knew the battle was going to get dirty like this didn’t we?
M$ is running scared. Those devils are drowning in their own cesspool and will do anything to save themselves at this point.
Who cares. What I really want is iWork 07.
Those Mother F***ers!!
My Mac-based business depends on Office compatibility…
I HATE M$!!!!
oh no! you mean i won’t be able to open worthless word docs and ugly ppt documents anymore? damn, oh whatever will I do?
i want iWork 07 too, and for the time being I’ll use Open Office or Neo Office, sice they are free open source office suits
To Jake and others,
Hmmmm. I have to wonder, then this new MS word format is not compatiable with older MS word programs. You have to upgragde your existing MS work 2003, 98, whatever, to be able to read these new files?????
So that means that if you buy MS word 2007, no one can read your files???
Am I understanding this right???
Is that like Zune? MS is expecting the world to suddenly run out and buy MS word 2007 just so it can talk to each other, when they can do so now without changing? If you buy MS word 2007, and do not save in old format, no one else can open your files???
really weird.!!!
MS word 2007. . . . . Zuned.
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N.
(voice of Bugs Bunny)
“Of course you know, this means war!”
Norm e.
There will be a free plug in for older versions of pc office to read/write the new anti-mac format.
surprised?
no
Dutch,
Perhaps you don’t care, but there are millions that have to interface with the rest of the world that uses Office on Windows. Let’s not ignore the facts just because we want to operate in an Apple vacuum.
The only reason I am able to use my MacBook Pro in a Wall Street business (with Dells and Lenovos everywhere) is that I can be COMPLETELY compatible with MS Office. And even though I am running Parallels, doing all of my Office work there is not a way to be efficient.
Also, iWork will NEVER be totally compatible with MS Office. Let’s not try and move mountains when a tunnel will do.
Get real!
Often when file formats are modernized, they become incompatible with the old formats. This is because the new formats allow you to incorporate features that had not been envisioned when the old format was invented.
The only reason this surprises us is that IT’S BEEN SO LONG SINCE MICROSOFT HAS UPDATED ANYTHING that we just assume that all MS formats are compatible with each other.
WHAT REALLY TICKS ME OFF is when they DON’T include a way to save documents in the old format. At work I use Visio 2003 on XP. But Visio 2003 can’t save files in a format readable by my coworker with Visio 2002! Seriously! M$ wants to force everybody to upgrade, and by making the file formats incompatible, it just might work. What a bunch of crooks!
I have Office 2007, and there is an option in it to switch the default saving format to Office 2003 format.
And people look at me like I’m some kind of weirdo when I tell them I avoid M$ apps like the plague…
“Microsoft Office Open XML”.
So it needs special converter’s that Microsoft will write for everyone else when they get around to it, for everyone else to read their supposed ‘open’ format.
Not very ‘open’ is it?
Typical, this is open-source, Microsoft-style.
@norm e
“So that means that if you buy MS word 2007, no one can read your files???
Am I understanding this right???”
Yes, you are.
MS has done this for years and years and years.
Sure, you might be able to get by on some kind of converter, but basically this is the ENTIRE MODEL MS uses to drive Office upgrades.
Each new version of Office can open old files, but will save by default to the new, improved, and CLOSED format.
Soon people start emailing you files and you can’t open them. And then you start bugging your corporate tech support about it and they decide to upgrade everyone.
In fact, I think I read somewhere that part of this strategy involved giving free copies of the new Office to top-level executives. Those excecutives would start sending people incompatible docs, and NO WAY is anyone going to tell the execs to save in an old format. This forces everyone under them to upgrade.
It’s brilliant, really.
How can Apple break this cycle?
what is iwork 07
okay..it’s about time iTunes becomes a mac-only app…
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And another thing…
Does anyone else think that this is a ‘shot-across-the-bows’ to Apple for daring to even hint at the possibility of the fact that they might, someday release their Office-killer?
Microsoft will, eventually get around to writing the converter’s to Mac, but is this ‘delay’ really Microsoft flexing it’s muscles towards Apple?
MadMac,
MS has switched to an XML format for the underlying document format for a reason…. so it can be an open format and easily adopted by other companies. Apple or any company will be able to read/write the new .____x formats. You can relax.
So when are the Mac folks going to get it through there minds – M$$$$ is not our cup of tea anymore! Even in the world of business, there are better and more Mac friendly solutions out there!
With all of the other application chooses out there, these days why even have M$$$ even on your Mac? I don’t!
Lets see now there always Applework (albeit a little long in the tooth), iWorks new “Pages” which just keep getting better and better.
Now if one really needs to be able to read and write Word and it’s counter parts, from time to time, as I do, then there something out there called “NeoOffice’, based on “OpenOffice”, which take cares of any longing on my part for Word or other like minded M$$$ offerings! And the best part is it’s free and Mac friendly! can’t bet that…
So? More businesses and consumers will choose Open Office.
And? Apart from the nefarious reasons to upgrade to Vista / Office, this is another reason not toupgrade at all.
‘Unfortunately it is still to early for us to say when the converters will be available,’ she said.”
Unfortunately, APC’s grammar sucks. Can you find the error?
Come on people, MS doing this sort of thing is nothing new. How many times has MS released a new version of Office for windows but the older versions of word, for example, cannot read the new files? Actually I have always found it funny how people used to complain about mac office not being compatible with windows office when switching between windows versions of office was just as bad. Try opening newer versions of files in Office 97 and you will see what I mean. This is typical MS but only gets headlines so media outlets can try and paint the mac in a bad light by saying this mac isn’t compatible.
Making iTunes Mac-only would be a very bad idea. Based on installed OS percentages, I’ll bet more tunes are downloaded to peecees than Macs; at the least a very high percentage are. It would be too much business to lose for Apple.