Foreword
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Foreword
I first noticed the name Wouter Van Vugt in April of 2006, when he started answering questions from developers
on the OpenXmlDeveloper.org web site. Within a few months, Wouter was contributing lots of great content to
OpenXmlDeveloper, posting Open XML code samples on his blog, and had created a handy utility for Open XML
developers (Package Explorer), which he uploaded to Codeplex as an open-source project.
I started working directly with Wouter in the fall of 2006, when we delivered the first Open XML workshop
together in Paris, and each of us later delivered that same workshop many times around the world in early 2007.
Wouter's job was simply to teach the workshops, but he couldn't restrain himself from creating more content,
including various code samples and demo documents. I used his demos whenever I delivered the workshop, and
also posted one of them on my blog, leading him to comment "Hey Doug, you're stealing my demos!"
True, but consider it a compliment.
Wouter’s eagerness to help developers learn about Open XML has never wavered. Near the end of that first series
of workshops, when the CTP of the Microsoft SDK for Open XML formats was released, I was busy traveling and
had not spoken to him for some time. Two days after the release of the CTP, I checked the MSDN support forum,
and there was Wouter, answering questions about Open XML development. Wherever developers ask questions
about Open XML, Wouter seems to show up and answer them.
In this book, Wouter has distilled his deep experience in Open XML development into a simple book that
developers can read and apply quickly and easily. Those who have attended his workshops will recognize his style
in every page: opinionated and enthusiastic, with a knack for making complex topics sound simple and obvious.
Open XML is ushering in a new era in document formats. For the first time in the history of computing, the most
widely used document-creation software in the world -- Microsoft Office -- uses an open, documented standard as
its default file format. This means developers can read and write those documents from any platform, in any
language. Just as HTML, HTTP, and other standards moved online services from the proprietary past of
CompuServe, AOL, and Prodigy to the open and interoperable world-wide web, the existence of XML-based
document standards is moving business documents from a closed proprietary past to an open and interoperable
future.
The move toward this future started in late 2005, when representatives from Apple, Barclays Capital, BP, The
British Library, Essilor, Intel, Microsoft, NextPage, Novell, Statoil, Toshiba, and the United States Library of
Congress formed Ecma International’s TC45 (Technical Committee 45) working group. This group delivered the
Ecma 376 standard a little over a year later, in December of 2006, and that standard is now the official
documentation of the Open XML standard.
This book covers only a small portion of the Ecma 376 spec: the specific things that an experienced Open XML
developer like Wouter Van Vugt considers important for hands-on Open XML development. With the information
in this book, developers can start taking advantage of the new opportunities that Open XML provides, and start
breaking down the historical barriers between documents, processes, and data.
If you want to get a head start on Open XML development, this book is all you need. It's also a great source of cool
demos to steal -- thanks, Wouter!
- Doug Mahugh
Open XML Technical Evangelist, Microsoft
June 23, 2007