The royalty-free license under which Microsoft plans to make its upcoming new Office Open XML Formats widely available <A HREF="http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1829355,00.asp?kc=ewnws062005dtx1k0000599">is incompatible with the GNU General Public License</A> and will thus prevent many free and open-source software projects from using the formats, community officials say. In addition, a leading patent official is calling into question the validity and enforceability of the Microsoft Corp. license and suggesting that free and open-source software developers need not comply with its conditions.