Which translators take more time and produce less good results when converting between OOXML and ODF? Werner Langer, MFA spoke in the Netherlands about "Experiences in Format Conversion" in the German foreign office. The IT strategist tested several solutions available on the market. While no solution seems to be satisfactory only the SUN products offer the users a better quality and they are much faster in the conversion.
- OpenOffice.org (http://www.openoffice.org)
- OOXML/ODF Translator Add-in for Office
- Sun ODF Plugin for Microsoft Office
- Novell ODF/OOXML Translator
- ODFTrans (http://www.hwd-online.de)
His results reveal that conversion needs more attention from developers, esp. now that The Netherlands standardize on ODF - with more public agencies to come. The German Foreign Office migrated to Linux and Open Source solutions. The test results demonstrate that PR stunts won't convince customers that compare the solutions available. The results also indicate that the OOXML conversion will be a non-trivial exercise for competitors. A single international standard could help to reduce the pain.
http://www.odfworkshop.nl/files/20080228-ODFworkshop-WernerLanger.pdf