On July 10, Microsoft announced that Asian Linux distributor Turbolinux is the latest Linux company to join its Ecma Open XML-Open Document Format Translator Project.
Unlike the earlier Microsoft/Linux partnerships Novell, Xandros and Linspire there's no patent agreement or any other technical partnerships. This project seeks to create tools to build a "technical bridge" between Microsoft's Open XML Formats and ODF (Open Document Format).
This is not Turbolinux's first partnership with Microsoft. In 2004, Turbolinux made a deal with Microsoft to enable its desktop line, starting with Turbolinux 10 F, to ship a media player that's could legally play movies and music encoded in Microsoft's proprietary WMF (Windows Media Format).
As for this newest deal, in a statement, Koichi Yano, CEO of Turbolinux said: "We support the work the Sourceforge open-source community has done to date and felt it was important to become a part of this amazing collaborative effort. Our hope in joining this project is to not only contribute our own expertise in working with ODF files, but also to enable choice in formats for our own customers in the near future."
Microsoft has been pressing hard in recent months to have Open XML recognized as an open document standard. For example, its lobbying efforts in Massachusetts appear to have been successful in getting Open XML as an open format for state documents. Not everyone agrees that Open XML is a true open standard. In addition, standards expert and attorney Andy Updegrove is encouraging those that disagree with Massachusetts' latest change in IT policy to write to the state's Information Technology Division to reconsider this shift.
According to Jean Paoli, Microsoft's general manager for interoperability and XML architecture, "We know that some customers may want to work with multiple file formats and that translators between Ecma Open XML and ODF are tools that enable this. We are undertaking this effort as an open-source project to enable ODF supporters and experts, whether they want to assume an official role in the community the way Turbolinux is, or simply contribute and help ensure that the translators are as high quality as they can be.
Microsoft has also been talking with Red Hat about similar technical partnerships.
[闲聊]Microsoft makes another Linux friend: Turbolinux
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