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Microsoft has finally released - in beta form - the first of the promised plug-ins that enable Mac versions of Office to open Office 2007 documents. Specifically, those saved in the new Open XML format, which was introduced with the release of Office 2007 for Windows.

Only the converter for Word has been released, however, allowing users to translate Word documents with either the .docx or .docm suffixes to a rich text file (RTF), which can be opened by Office 2004 or v.X. Excel and PowerPoint documents saved in the new formats remain out of bounds on Macs.

The delay in full support for the new Office 2007 formats is certain to highlight compatibility

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issues for IT managers, at least those considering rolling out Office 2007 across a mixed-platform environment. Effectively, Office for Mac users will be falling behind their Windows cousins when it comes to handling the new Office XML format, creating problems for sharing documents across organisations.

Office 2007 uses the new Open XML format by default when saving document. However the resulting documents have been completely incompatible with the latest version of Office for the Mac - Office 2004.

While the conversion plugins for the Mac were first announced at Apple's Worldwide Developers' Conference in August 2006, there have been repeated delays.

Back in December 2006, Microsoft's Mac Business Unit announced that a Mac converter for the new file formats in Microsoft Office 2007 would not be available until Spring 2007. This obviously slipped.

Now, while the Word converter has appeared, converters for Excel and PowerPoint are expected by the summer. This means the next Mac version of Microsoft's Office software - Office 2008 - will appear a few weeks before existing compatibility issues with Office 2007 have been resolved.

Will this be enough to stay the hand of IT managers rolling out Office 2007? Or does this lack of compatibility between Mac and Windows users conveniently serve to drive users into the arms of Vista? Leave your comments via the link below.