This was mentioned before by Joerg news: snipped-for-privacy@o6g2000hsd.googlegroups.com
formatting link
*-*-jerk-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*+zzz+ODF+XLSX+OOXML
and by JT.
formatting link
*-*news: snipped-for-privacy@s12g2000prg.googlegroups.com
With Microsoft having gotten an ISO certification[1] for OOXML (via bribes, ballot box stuffing, and corruption of other sorts), it appears we are going to have to deal with this monstrosity.
OpenOffice.org 3.0 (slated for release in September 2008) will have support for OOXML (well, as best that M$ pseudo-standard can be deciphered).
In the meantime, if you have idiots sending you crap in these formats (.DOCX, .XLSX, .PPTX, etc.), a pre-release version is available:
formatting link
The site is getting hammered pretty hard right now (due to Slashdot). . . [1] So, does ANYONE have any respect left for ISO?