<img title="Image: http://www.myvivvo.com/thumbnail.php?file=microsoft_yahoo_192735924.jpg&amp;size=article_medium" src="http://www.myvivvo.com/thumbnail.php?file=microsoft_yahoo_192735924.jpg&amp;size=article_medium" alt="EU adds document formats to its Microsoft concerns">
										
									<div>
								
                                
								<span>BRUSSELS, Belgium - European Union regulators said Thursday 
they will consider Microsoft Corp.'s promise to make its Office 
productivity programs work more seamlessly with competing software.<br><br>Microsoft
 said Wednesday it would update Office 2007 to allow users to save text,
 spreadsheets and other documents in the Portable Document Format — as 
PDF files — and other non-Microsoft file formats, in addition to its own
 Office Open XML format, known as OOXML.<br><br>The changes, due next 
year, would add the formats — including a competing standard called 
OpenDocument Format created by open source developers and used by IBM 
Corp., Sun Microsystems Inc. and others — as defaults consumers could 
choose from for saving all their documents.<br><br>Microsoft's 
announcement was the latest in a series of moves meant to show it has 
changed its ways and is no longer the same company whose anticompetitive
 behavior provoked more than $2.63 billion in fines in the E.U.<br><br>Critics
 have stayed skeptical of Microsoft's vows to make its software work 
better with rival programs, and European regulators opened two new 
Microsoft antitrust investigations in January, one related to the OOXML 
format.<br><br>"In its ongoing antitrust investigation concerning 
interoperability with Microsoft Office, the commission will investigate 
whether the announced support of ODF in Office leads to better 
interoperability," the European Union's executive arm said Thursday.<br><br>Critics
 who support ODF say Microsoft is trying to supplant ODF and with OOXML 
and lock users into buying Office programs forever, stemming the threat 
of open source software eating into its market share.<br><br>Despite a 
chorus of complaints, OOXML was approved last month as an international 
standard, paving the way for it to be used by the IT departments of 
governments and large corporations.<br><br>Microsoft said Wednesday it continues to work with the open source community on an OOXML-ODF translator.<br><br>The
 Redmond, Wash.-based software maker said the changes will be made with 
Office 2007 Service Pack 2, expected in the first half of 2009.</span>
							</div><br>