Microsoft, DAISY Make Reading Easier for People With Print Disabilities

A great example of the utility of Open XML; see the full press release for more details

Microsoft Corp. today joined with industry and advocacy group leaders worldwide to launch new software that will make it easier for anyone to create documents and content that will be accessible for blind and print-disabled individuals. The new “Save as DAISY XML” add-in, designed for Microsoft Office Word 2007, Word 2003 and Word XP, will allow users to save Open XML-based text files into DAISY XML, the foundation of the globally accepted DAISY Standard for reading and publishing navigable multimedia content (http://www.daisy.org).

The “Save as DAISY XML” add-in was created through an open source project with Microsoft, Sonata Software Ltd. and the Digital Accessible Information SYstem (DAISY) Consortium and can be downloaded by Microsoft Office Word users for free at http://www.openxmlcommunity.org/daisy.

Microsoft, DAISY Make Reading Easier for People With Print Disabilities: Using Office Open XML files, users of Microsoft Office Word can now produce content in the world’s most widely used assistive technology format.