Corel plans to support both the Open Document Format and Microsoft's Open XML format in future versions of its WordPerfect text processor.

By the middle of next year the application will allow its users to open, save and edit documents in both formats, the company said.

The ODF format is defined by the Oasis standards body. As the format gained support, it prompted Microsoft to submit its Open XML format to the Ecma standards body, allowing software developers to support it in their applications without requiring any royalty payments.

Microsoft, however, won't directly support ODF in its Office suite, instead offering a third party plug-in that lets users import and export ODF documents. At the other end of the spectrum, OpenOffice has no known plans to incorporate support for Microsoft's format either.

The support stalemate allows Corel to position itself as a 'format neutral' application.

"Corel is and will continue to be a strong supporter of open standards," touted Richards Carriere, Corel's general manager of Office productivity.