Of course, building interoperability between these two oft-opposed formats continues to be a complex and ambitious work-in-progress. And as many of you have experienced first-hand, maintaining document fidelity in the wake of ODF/MS Office file conversion continues to be a tricky terrain to navigate.

In my ongoing testing, I found that, even more difficult than getting the plug-ins to work, was the task of building a proper war chest of documents to test these plug-ins against. It requires documents that not only push file conversion fidelity to the outermost limits, but also help test everyday documents, those with simple to mid-range formatting complexity.

And so, I now appeal to the open-format champions and skeptics among eWEEK's readership to help me take these three plug-ins to task. I'm looking for documents that run the gamut from bare-bones to rich and complex documents that might include embedded images (photographs would be especially nice), fancy diagrams, multiple columns, nested tables, and the dread embedded OLE objects.

Remember, these plug-ins are meant to add support not only to Word, but Excel and PowerPoint, so send us your intricate spreadsheets, or perhaps your very first slide show presentation.

Your generous submissions and input will not only help my testing of the plug-ins, but will improve the ongoing and much-needed dialogue about the journey to embracing open-file formats in the workplace.

And, if open-file formats are not your thing (and may never be your thing,) this testing is crucial to enabling users freedom and choice for working and interacting with the various desktop applications and office suites circulating throughout the world's wide array of cubicles and corner offices.

Linux lovers will inevitably need and want to interact with the newly birthed devotees of Office 2007. As much as it may pain Microsoft, users of Office 97 still exist, and when they go away, their documents will most likely need to be accessed for years to come. Someday, MAC OS may become a heavy hitter in the enterprise world, making the call for interoperability among these competing applications only louder.

While you don't have to rally completely on the side of file format universality, certainly the need for functional file conversion fidelity between rival applications cannot be denied. For as long as there are choices offered to users in the office application marketplace, users will continue to choose, and their choices will rarely be the same.

But remember, while the desire to rub shoulders with fame by seeing your submission appear either online or in the pages of eWEEK magazine (or simply passed through the eager hands at eWEEK Labs) may be strong, please choose your submissions wisely and only send documents appropriate for public consumption.

Do not send sensitive materials that will get either you or us fired. Do not send documents that are proprietary or copyrighted and risk getting you or me in trouble (or hauled into court) at the end of the day.

Email your submissions to tiffany_maleshefski@ziffdavis.com.