I am using Office 2007 and OpenOffice 3.3. I have to be able to open and save documents in both formats .docx and .odt. As .odt is an open format why can't Word open and save documents in that Format?
Edit: Is there a program to open and save both formats in good quality that there are no problems opening with Word or OpenOffice?
Word 2007 does provide support for reading and producing ODF 1.1 .odt documents. You should make sure that the version of Office 2007 is current to at least SP2.
The support for ODF 1.1 is also present in Microsoft Office 2010. In Microsoft Office 2013, there is support for ODF 1.2, including interchange of OpenFormula between Excel and OpenDocument Spreadsheet (.ods) files.
The conversions implemented by products that support one native format (OOXML or ODF) are not entirely unblemished when reading/writing the other format (ODF or OOXML). You should be careful to ensure that the specific types of documents you are interested transfer back and forth without fidelity loss.
One useful aid is the Microsoft SkyDrive free service with its Web Applications for Microsoft Office. SkyDrive WebApps provide import and export of ODF as well as OOXML among the reduced functionality that it supports. If your documents go between formats successfully there, I'd say that's a safe bet. SkyDrive Web Site
The Open Document Format (.odt, .odp, .ods, ...) is an open format and free to use. Microsofts Office Open XML Format (.docx, .pptx, .xlsx) is as well an open standard, but it is not free, licensing fees have to be paid to Microsoft.
So the answer to your question is: It is all about the money. Microsoft tried to force other products like OpenOffice/LibreOffice into buying a licence for their Office Open XML Format by not supporting the Open Document Format. The European Union forced Microsoft to support the Open Document Format in the newest version of Office (Office 2013). So if you are using Microsoft Office 2013 you should be able to open and save files in the Open Document Format.
