Barthos Computers Blog

Redmond (WA) - Microsoft announced that it will extend the file format range supported by its Office 2007 package. ODF 1.1, PDF 1.5 and XPS will be added with the next service pack, but the integration of Microsoft?s own and recently standardized Office Open XML will be delayed until Office 14.

Microsoft appears to be following through with its “interoperability principles” and today announced that it will be adding support for XML Paper Specification format (XPS), Portable Document Format (PDF) 1.5, PDF/A and Open Document Format (ODF) v1.1 to Office 2007. The added functionality is scheduled to arrive in 2009 as part of the Office 2007 SP2 update.

Surprisingly, Microsoft’s Office Open XML (OOXML) format, recently approved as Standard ISO/IEC 29500, will not make it into the SP2. While the format is already “substantially” supported in Office 2007, there are differences over IS29500 - and these changes will not be implemented until the release of Office 2014. This completely new Office package is expected to be released in tandem with Windows 7, which is rumored to be released in late 2009 or early 2010.

ODF support has been available to Office users via a format bridge, which Microsoft provided through its Open XML-ODF translator project on SourceForge.net. The company said it will continue this effort to provide ODF support for users of earlier versions of Office XP and Office 2003.

As part of its decision to integrate ODF support into its software, Microsoft will join the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) technical committee, which is working on the next version of ODF. The company said it will also take part in the ISO/IEC working group being formed to work on ODF maintenance.

Source: tgdaily.com

Adobe’s Flash Player 10 is nearing its official release date as a public beta is now available for download from Adobe Labs for Windows, OS X and Linux. Some of the noted additions to Flash Player 10 is the support for 3D rendering effects, Adobe Pixel Blender Filters, new drawing APIs and a new text rendering engine.

Read more here …

Montreal (Canada) - This should come as no surprise to TG Daily readers: Ubisoft has released the v1.02 patch for its Assassin’s Creed tile. The patch removes support for DirectX 10.1.

In an article posted by our colleagues at Tech Report, Ubisoft tech lead Charles states that support for DirectX 10.1 was removed to increase the performance of the game. According to Beauchemin, there is no impact on visual quality. This somewhat contradicts previous statements, but, of course, you can draw your own conclusion.

Here is a list of fixes that is included with the 1.02 patch:

- Fixed a rare crash while riding the horse in Kingdom
- Fixed a corruption of Altair’s robe on certain graphics hardware
- Cursor is now centered when accessing the Map
- Fixed a few problems with Alt-Tab
- Fixed a graphical bug in the final fight
- Fixed a few graphical problems with dead bodies
- Fixed pixellation with post-FX enabled on certain graphics hardware
- Fixed a small bug in the DNA Menu that would cause the image to disappear if the arrow was clicked rapidly
- Fixed some graphical corruption in Present Room with low Level Of Detail
- Character input is now cancelled if the controller is unplugged while moving
- Added support for x64 versions of Windows
- Fixed broken post-effects on DirectX 10.1 enabled cards

The removal of support for the DirectX 10.1 API is described as “fixed broken post-effects on DirectX 10.1 enabled cards.” The patch also comes with a carrot that I personally have to take, as I am not running 32-bit Vista, only 64-bit versions.

Following our most recent article on this topic, some readers have voiced concerns of a possible bias against Nvidia, which actually prompts me to reveal that I am running both platforms and this game

on Core 2 machines with Nvidia hardware under 64-bit Vista. I do have to note that I have mixed feelings about the fact that I paid 50 Euro (about $75) for a game that is now removing a feature highlighted on the box and there is no specific date given when this feature will return.