Microsoft is to collaborate with the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics to create an open source translator between China's Unified Office Format (UOF) and the Ecma Open XML file formats.

The software giant has unveiled a beta release of translation tools for Windows XP, and the 2003 and 2007 versions of Excel and PowerPoint, as part of the Open XML Translator project launched in July 2006.

Microsoft's UOF translation tools will be developed and licensed as open source software, and will be made available from SourceForge.net as free downloadable add-ins for Word 2003 and Word 2007 customers.

The tools will also be available for use with other individual and commercial projects to accelerate document interoperability across the industry and benefit Microsoft Office customers in China who need to work with the UOF standard.

A preview of the tools will be released on SourceForge.net this summer, and the final versions are expected early next year.

"Our customers have told us that their data needs cannot be addressed by a one- format or one-standard-fits-all approach," said Jean Paoli, general manager of interoperability and XML architecture at Microsoft.

"Everyone wants to use their data in slightly different ways, so we are enabling customers to pick whatever format they want to use with their Office documents, whether it is ODF, Open XML, PDF or new standards like UOF."

The UOF-specific translator meets the needs of government and public sector customers in China who are interested in using the emerging standard.

UOF is being developed by the Chinese Office Software Work Group, led by the Ministry of Information Industry, major suppliers of Chinese office software suites, and academic institutions such as the Beijing Information Technology Institute.

The translator tools will be developed and tested by leading Chinese independent software vendors and academic institutions.

These include Beihang University, Beijing Information Technology Institute, Tsinghua University and Lenovo Group's LitSoft.