Finally the Windows Mobile users will be able to work with the files created with Microsoft Office 2007…
“Close to a year after the introduction of both Windows Mobile 6 and Office 2007, Microsoft has finally gotten around to enabling you to manage documents created using the latter’s new Open XML (Extensible Markup Language) file formats on devices that run on the former…”
Microsoft has issued an update for Office Mobile to enable compatibility with Office 2007 documents. Office 2007 introduced a new file format based on the controversial Office Open XML (OOXML) specification, for which Microsoft has been trying–seemingly in vain–to gain global acceptance. The would-be standard’s main competitor is the fully open-source OpenDocument Format.
“Microsoft has rolled out an upgrade to Office Mobile, version 6.1, directly to consumers and not just hardware vendors, some of whom have already pre-installed the newest version of Office Mobile on their devices.”
“Microsoft’s upgraded its Office Mobile suite which contains Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, and PowerPoint Mobile applications.”
The new file format used by Office 2007, the latest office suite launched by Microsoft in January this year is based on Open XML and until now the Office Mobile application were not compatible with docx (Word), pptx (PowerPoint), and xlsx (Excel) documents.
“According to Microsoft the new file formats reduce file size, improve security and reliability, and enhance integration with external sources.”
Windows Mobile has not had the ability to handle OOXML-based documents until now. With the update installed, users would be able to read and edit documents created using Office 2007’s new Open XML file formats—on a Windows Mobile 6 or Windows Mobile 5 devices, just like you already do with documents created in previous editions of Microsoft Office.
“The necessary update was accidentally and briefly leaked by one of Microsoft’s U.K.-based mobility managers two months ago.”
In October this year Jason Langridge, a Microsoft employee of the the U.K. office of Microsoft’s Windows Mobile unit, has accidentally revealed the update of Office Mobile and he even provided on his blog a download link.
Microsoft said that the update was just an internal test version and the link was promptly removed.
The latest update is the official release and is available for users of Windows Mobile 5 and 6. Also, beside the compatibility with MS Office 2007, the new upgrade adds enhanced viewing experience for charts in Excel Mobile, the ability to view SmartArt in PowerPoint Mobile and the ability to view and extract files from compressed (.zip) folders.
Office Mobile 6.1 only works with Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC and Pocket PC Phones (models with touch screens) and not Windows Mobile Smartphones (those without touch screens), however. And it is not compatible with versions of Windows Mobile before 5.
The Office Mobile 6.1 upgrade is available directly from Microsoft as a free download here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/software/officeupgrade.mspx