Well, it's not really a belated welcome, as they've been with us at the OOXML Party since the beginning, but now it turns out that some of the group that came with them has changed clothes and seen the light about the Office Open XML (OOXML) file formats!  Woo-Hoo!  Welcome back to the party!

The OpenXMLCommunity.org website just released a new web site re-design - check it out.  On the front page, in the news roll-up section, there are references to some new articles about increased support for OOXML.

  • there’s a fun to read ComputerWorld article about IBM’s support for the new file formats! (Hence the title of this post - welcome to the party!)
  • ZDNet has a story about the Burton Group report which recommends the use of the new file formats.

Some other news about IBM in the OOXML arena -

  • Mary Jo Foley - if Mary Jo is talking about it, then you know it will show up in a Press Release in 60-90 days!  IBM, Google quietly supporting OOXML?
  • IBM developerWorks - Manage ODF and Microsoft Office 2007 documents with DB2 9 pureXML
  • IBM DB2 Content Manager v8.4 Clients Support for Office Open XML File Formats
  • IBM WebSphere Portal - Enabling Document Conversion Services
  • IBM Lotus Quickr Support for Microsoft Office 2007 documents

While I admit that I just scanned these articles, and am not a trained developer in these IBM technologies, I didn't see any mention of instructional steps calling out two myths about developing for Office Open XML.  These myths state (generally) that

  1. Organizations that want to include support for OOXML require help from MSFT to do so, and
  2. There are still IP issues related to sections of the proposed specification that are unresolved (implying that someday MSFT may charge licensing fees).

Well, could it be that because these developer documents don't instruct developers to call MSFT for help or to negotiate licensing, that the above items really are Myths, and should be included on some "Snopes for OOXML" myth-busting type of web site?  Hey - maybe the Mythbusters would take the subject of OOXML Myths on for an episode?  Anyone know someone at the Mythbusters show that I could talk to?  Are the Ghostbusters still in operation in NYC?