WordPerfect Office beta supports Open XML

Interesting news out of Ottawa today:

Corel Corporation (NASDAQ:CREL; TSX:CRE), a leading developer of graphics, productivity and digital media software, today announced a new beta version of Corel® WordPerfect® Office that supports both the Open Document Format (ODF) and Microsoft® Office Open XML (OOXML), the default file format for Microsoft® Office 2007.

The new beta will allow users to open, view and edit ODF and OOXML files and uniquely positions Corel as the industry's format-neutral vendor of productivity software. The free beta will allow customers to test WordPerfect Office's ODF and OOXML capabilities and evaluate which of these emerging standards best meets their needs.

"Open standards are increasingly important for our customers, especially in government," said Nick Davies, Vice President and General Manager, Graphics and Productivity at Corel. "A multi-format approach allows Corel to provide our customers with maximum compatibility and archival options, and harnesses our deep expertise in file formats to deliver flexible document solutions for our customers."

The introduction of ODF and OOXML support in the new WordPerfect Office XML Format Beta is the latest example of Corel's long standing commitment to multi-format compatibility. In addition to ODF and OOXML, the Beta supports Microsoft Office binary formats, Adobe's PDF, Corel's own WordPerfect Office formats and over 60 others. It also includes an integrated XML Editor capable of creating custom XML publishing solutions.