Opportunity Knocks

You are doing your regular day-to-day work, when someone sends you a file that your office applications suite will not open.  What can you do to open this file?  Well, if the file is in OpenDocument Format (ODF), you have the following alternatives available to you.

What Is OpenDocument Format (ODF)?

ODF is a file format specification created by OASIS, an industry standards group.  Its purpose is to create a set of standardized file formats that is XML-based, archivable, not written specifically for any specific vendor's products, and can be freely implemented by anyone.  This standard has been approved by the Internation Organization for Standards (ISO), and is soon to be required for government documents in some European countries and American states.  The format includes handicap accessibility, so that such tools as screen readers can easily hook into an ODF-using application.  It re-uses proven technologies such as the W3C's XML, MathML (for mathematics formulae), and SVG (graphics) formats within the standard, rather than experimental and unproven technologies.

Because ODF is a truly open standard that does not place the user's data into the hands of any particular vendor's control, it is something that government agencies need to implement for the documents that they hold in trust for their citizens.  Best of all, several years from now, after one or more software upgrades, users will still be allowed to access their data—already, some people and companies have found that their historical documents are not readable by their current software—this open format means that any decent programmer can always implement tools to enable access to stored data.

Reading, Printing, Editing & Writing ODF

The following list consists of items known to me as of 2007-01-08.  I will update this list as I find out more information.

1. File Viewing Software: View and Print The File
   • TextMaker Viewer can view and print ODF word processing documents (.odt files).
   • OpenDocument Fellowship's Viewer can view and print ODF wordprocessing (.odt), spreadsheet (.ods), and presentation (.odp) files.  It is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OSX.  Thanks to Jean Weber for getting me this information.
     Update: 2008-01-18: It appears that OpenDocument Fellowship's .org domain is now held by a squatter.  Use the .com link above. Thanks, Jesse, for reporting it.
2. Online Conversion Sites and Online Office Application Suites
   • 3BView offers the ability to convert to or from ODF formats on their Web site, including a free trial
   • Google Docs can import .odt (ODF word processing) files, but it apparently exports .sxw files renamed as .odf.  These files will open in OpenOffice.org, but may not open correctly in other applications that support ODF.
   • Zoho Office supports ODF for both uploading and downloading documents.
   • IBM's Workplace—network-based applications for businesses—is adding support for ODF.  Their Lotus SmartSuite product is not currently doing so.  Is SmartSuite even still being developed and sold?  Will IBM make it easy for someone to find out if their business is a potential user of Workplace?
   • Added 2007-01-13:ZamZar offers an online file conversion service, currently zero-price.
   • StarOffice PDF Converter is a server that gets set up to provide service to a company's network, converting between ODF, Microsoft, and other formats or converting them to PDF.  There are pricing plans to enable application service providers to use the server for their customers.
3. Installable Software Applications
   • OpenOffice.org, available for Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OSX (X11 only), Solaris
   • KOffice, available for Linux, Mac OSX, FreeBSD, and any other UNIX-like operating system
   • AbiWord (on Windows, be sure to install the extra file formats plugins) available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OSX
   • NeoOffice, a Mac-native derivative of OpenOffice.org
   • StarOffice for Windows, Linux, Solaris operating systems
   • added 2007-10-01: IBM Lotus Symphony for Windows, Linux operating systems with at least 512MB of RAM; this one can also handle many of your old Lotus SmartSuite files.  A Mac version is expected in 2008.
   • TextMaker, PlanMaker (SoftMaker Office) for Windows, Linux, FreeBSD operating systems.
   • WordPerfect (will offer partial ODF support later in 2007).  Write to them to ask for full support if you intend to buy their products.
   • added 2008-01-18: Sun's ODF Plugin for Microsoft Office allows users of Microsoft's product to also open and save ODF (.odt, .ods, and .odp) files in the corresponding Microsoft application.  Available for Windows operating systems.
4. Freely available software that can manipulate data in files stored in ODF file formats
   • If you are writing such an application, please inform me and also Rob Weir.
5. Software for mobile phones and PDAs
   • Update, 2007-10-20: SEPT-Solutions Mobile Office can read .odt (text), .ods (spreadsheet), and .odp (presentation) files, with editing capability expected in a future version of the product.  Thanks to Bob Sutor for catching this announcement.
6. OpenDocument Fellowship maintains a list of applicatons at http://opendocumentfellowship.com/applications.  Be sure to use their .com domain in the link, not the .org that has been taken by a cybersquatter.  Thanks to Jean Weber for bringing this list to my attention.

If you have knowledge of something that I missed, please inform me about it, so I can update this information.