Amid the simmering debate over open file formats, Novell has released a translator that lets users open and save Microsoft’s OpenXML files in versions of the OpenOffice.org word processing program.

Novell’s OpenOffice.org OpenXML translator follows two similar tools introduced last month by Sun and by a group funded by Microsoft that developed an open-source translator.

Novell’s translator is the first by-product of its wide ranging technology partnership signed with Microsoft in November. The pair promised to develop translators to make it easier to work with OpenXML and the Open Document Format (ODF). Besides the word processing translator, others for presentation and spreadsheets are in the works.

OpenXML translator provides support for opening and saving Microsoft Open XML-formatted word processing documents (.docx) in OpenOffice.org. OpenXML is the default format in Office 2007 and ODF is supported by OpenOffice.org,

Novell includes their version of OpenOffice in their Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop 10. The Novell Translator requires one of four version of OpenOffice.org: Version 2.0.4 or later of the Novell edition for Windows, version 2.0.4 or later for SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 and openSUSE 10.1, OpenOffice.org 2.0 package for SUSE Linux 9.3 and 10.0, and OpenOffice.org 2.0.4 package for openSUSE 10.2.

“Customers are obviously going to end up with mixed environments and as they deploy Linux desktops and/or Open Office they are certainly going to need to communicate with users of Microsoft Word and Microsoft Office,” said a Novell spokesman.

Open Office already support file formats used in Microsoft Office prior to introducing OpenXML in Office 2007.

Novell’s software comes at a time when Microsoft and other major vendors are battling over the standardization efforts around OpenXML. Last month, Microsoft lashed out at IBM’s aggressive campaign against efforts to anoint OpenXML as a standard.

Ecma International, an international membership-based standards organization for information and communication systems, approved the OpenXML standardization measure in December with ECMA member IBM casting the only vote against the move.

Microsoft is now seeking further standardization of OpenXML through the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), a move that IBM is also contesting.