Hello Dave Fisher and other POI contributors. Pat McMillan forwarded email from Dave Fisher describing the Apache POI project’s concerns about an issue in Office 2008 for Mac SP2, concerns that we share. This email is a response to Dave Fisher's earlier correspondence.
We are aware of a serious bug in Office 2008 for Mac SP2 version 12.2.0 causing some Open XML files to fail to open in Office 2008 SP2. This bug is affecting Open XML files from a variety of sources including Office for Windows, Office for Mac, and the Apache POI project. We understand the problem and are working to release a version 12.2.1 of Office 2008 that addresses this issue in August. A few points from Dave Fisher's mail should be addressed. >> the Apache POI project has adjusted code to produce "MS-compatible OOXML by >> adding docProps/app.xml with "Microsoft Excel". We've done similar for DOCX >> files. This will allow users of future versions of Apache POI to produce >> OOXML documents that will work with Office 2008 for Mac SP2. This is not the best long-term solution, though we understand that it may be an effective short-term response to a bug in Office 2008 for Mac version 12.2.0. This isn't about producing "MS-compatible" Open XML but is rather a workaround for a short-term bug. Rather than asserting that Apache POI files are written by Microsoft, we hope that your long-term guidance will be to recommend that affected Office 2008 for Mac users use version 12.2.1 or later (or version 12.1.9 or earlier) with files written by Apache POI. >> In our understanding of the standard docProps/app.xml is optional. Our understanding also. An extended properties part (such as app.xml, which happens to be what we call it) is indeed optional as stated in ECMA-376, Part 4, Section 7.2, "If all extended property elements are omitted then the extended properties part may be excluded from a document." >> If this [the Application tag] were required by the standard then we think >> this would mean that the proper value for Apache POI created documents would >> to be "Apache POI" and not "Microsoft Excel" Our understanding also. Related to my discussion above, we believe that an Application value "Apache POI" is appropriate. >> we expect that Microsoft will return to compliance with ISO standard 29500 >> as promised. To be clear, Office 2008 for Mac conforms to ECMA-376 and does not yet conform to ISO/IEC 29500. The current situation is a bug in our ECMA-376 implementation and will be remedied as soon as possible. Warm regards. -Blair. Blair Neumann Program Manager, Macintosh Business Unit [email protected] ________________________________
