I'd been meaning to post a write-up on how to create a simple SpreadsheetML document from scratch, but just haven't had the time this week to pull it all together. Hopefully I'll get that out early next week. I had already done a similar post for WordprocessingML...

I've blogged in the past about some of the things we did with the SpreadsheetML format to help improve the performance of opening and saving those files. While a file format most likely won't affect the performance of an application once the file is loaded...

Recently a couple people have questioned the decision to leave the legacy Excel date behavior in the Open XML formats. This was primarily triggered by a post from IBM's Rob Wier . While those folks have referred to it as an Excel bug, it's actually something...

Ecma has now published a 14 page whitepaper that does an excellent job of describing the Office Open XML standard and the different goals and challenges TC45 had over the past year while working on the spec. I highly recommend everyone interested in office...

I posted earlier this year on the support for custom defined schema in wordprocessingML via the new content controls functionality. The key reason for opening the file formats was to make Office a more valuable platform for solution builders. We wanted...

I just had a couple random things to mention this afternoon: ARCast – Office 2007 Open XML Format (Part 1 of 2) - Doug Mahugh and I did a live webcast last month with Ron Jacobs ( http://www.skyscrapr.net/blogs/arcasts/archive/2006/10/18/370.aspx )...

Anyone else been following the latest blog posts from IBM and Sun discussing the Office Open XML formats ? It looks like they're stepping up their push to try make ODF the only choice in file formats. I read Tim Bray's post yesterday, but there have actually...

Are the Office Open XML formats too complex? Not really. They are definitely very rich, but the structure of the formats is pretty simple. As you start to get into more complicated features, the complexity of the formats also kicks in though. To show...

Murray Sargent who was the architect of the new math functionality in Office 2007 has a blog post where he talks more about the design of the Math schema in the Office Open XML formats ( http://blogs.msdn.com/murrays/archive/2006/10/07/MathML-and-Ecma...

I just saw this on Doug Mahugh's blog and it's really cool. Stephane Rodriguez has built a tool that allows you to view a diff of two Open XML files. I was actually bugging a number of folks to see if they would build something like this and it's awesome...

As I already mentioned, in the last face to face meeting in Trondheim, Norway we unanimously voted to approve the final draft of the Office Open XML spec as ready to submit to the Ecma General Assembly. The GA will then review the draft and in December...