Why a Microsoft file standard (MS Office 2003 and/or ODF)?
The MS Office 2003 (and prior versions) formats (.doc, .xls, .ppt) are in widespread use and are compatible with many non-Microsoft software products. However, we actually recommend ODF for your consideration, as your files will be available to you much farther into the future. ODF is not bound by any particular company, is approved by the International Standards Office, and is the native format for free office suite products such as OpenOffice. The ODF Alliance, an international coalition of 150+ governmental entities endorses this open standard. *MS Office 2007/8 introduced a new file format called OOXML (.docx, .xlsx, and .pptx). COE is NOT adopting this file standard – it is proprietary, complicated, and is unlikely to be implemented anywhere but MS Office. By rejecting this format, we leave the door open for you to choose the word processor that best fits your needs. If you do use MS Office 2007/8, you can use “Save as…” for acceptable formats, otherwise the default file type is O
