Properties of the standard

This section prepares you to investigate OpenXML by describing some of its high-level properties. Each subsection describes one of these properties and refers to specific features within OpenXML.

• “Interoperability”describes how OpenXML is independent of proprietary formats, features, and run-time environment, allowing developers a broad range of choices.

• “Internationalization”mention safew representative ways in which OpenXML supports every major language group.

• “Low Barierto Developer Adoption”,“Compactnes”,and“Modularity”list specific ways in which OpenXML avoids or removes practical impediments to implementation by diverse parties: learning curve, minimum feature set, and performance.

• “High Fidelity Migration”describes how OpenXML meets the over-arching goal to preserve the information, including the original creator’s fulintent in existing and new documents.

• “Integration with Busines Data”describes how OpenXML incorporates business information in custom schemas to enable integration and reuse of information between productivity applications and information systems.

• “Room for Innovation”describes how OpenXML prepares for the future by defining further extensibility mechanisms and providing for interoperability between applications with differing feature sets.

The remainder of this document, including this section, is a topical guide to OpenXML. References to the Specification are all of the form §Part:section.subsection; for example, §1:2.5 refers to Part 1, Section 2.5 of the Specification. References to other headings within this paper are by name.