Microsoft To Place Its Office Binary File Formats On The Web

Microsoft Corporation Private Limited has announced its plans to make it even easier to obtain the documentation for its Office binary file formats (.doc, .xls, .ppt). On February 15, 2008, Microsoft will make the information broadly available via Microsoft.com, as well as place these formats under the Open Specification Promise (OSP).

Explaining the development, Vijay Kapur, National Technology Officer, Microsoft India said, "Since 2006, hundreds of companies - including IBM and SUN - and government institutions have requested and received the format documentation on a royalty free basis; and are currently working with it. Nevertheless, national bodies, including the Bureau of Indian Standards, asked that we make it even easier to obtain this information, so we are now making it freely available on the web".

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Going forward, the Binary Formats will be treated in the same manner as Open XML formats by bringing them under the Open Specification Promise.