Posted 06/02/09 at 01:09:20 PM by Paul Lilly

Google this week expanded its Google Docs service to now include .docx and .xlsx file formats for uploading, adding to its list of supported files, including.doc, .odt, .xls, .ods., .ppt, .csv, .html, .txt, .rtf, and others.

"To import a .docx or .xlsx file, simply click the 'Uploa' button in Docs List menu, select your file, and voila!, "Google wrote in its blog. "We'll upload an convert your document for use in Google Docs. This is another great benefit of Google Docs - you don't have to worry about what format the file is in. Just upload it and we'll figure it out for you."

Google had already allowed users to open up .docx and .xlsx file formats from Gmail and Google search results, but this is the first time they've been able to do so in Google Docs automatically. Viewed as an important inclusion, the 'x' variants are the default format in Microsoft's Excel and Word 2007. Curiously missing, however, is support for PowerPoint 2007's .pptx file format.

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Posted 10/05/08 at 02:13:26 PM by Justin Kerr

Open Office has been around in one form or another for over nine years now. But the once little known productivity suite known back then as StarOffice has evolved considerably over the years. Today the Sun Microsystems freebee is admittedly a fairly full featured alternative to Microsoft Office. Open Office in fact has become so useful that Maximum PC Editor and Chief Will Smith has admitted its open source charm (and free price tag) has finally won over his home PC for casual word processing. Fans of the platform have another reason to get excited these days with the impending launch of version 3.0. The new version will further improve compatibility when working with Microsoft Office files and will include additional support for the open file format OpenDocument which is to be integrated into Office 2007. For those looking to give version 3 a try, a public beta is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac. But for corporate users looking to implement Open Office you should follow the links instead to the version named StarOffice. The retail version will cost you about $69.95, but it includes technical support and intellectual property indemnification. For those keeping track Open Office 2 launched on October 20th 2005 and the latest stable version is 2.4.1 which was released in June.

So are you ready to abandon Microsoft Office?

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Posted 07/10/07 at 06:23:11 PM by Robert Strohmeyer

Why you should (but may find it difficult to) use open formats for all your files.

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