Reading microsoft .xls format and openoffice OpenDocument files

1. I have used gdata::read.xls() with much happiness. But every now
   and then it breaks. I have not, as yet, been able to construct a
   mental model about the class of .xls files for which it works. Does
   someone have a simple rule for predicting the circumstances under
   which it will work?

2. Just like there is a read.xls(), it'd be great if we have a
   read.ods() which directly reads files from openoffice. This should
   be easier than grokking Microsoft formats given that openoffice is
   gpl. I hunted a bit and couldn't find any. Does someone know how we
   might approach this?

   Am I correct in thinking that our goal is reading OpenDocument
   files (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDocument) ?

Ajay Shah                                      http://www.mayin.org/ajayshah  
ajayshah at mayin.org                             http://ajayshahblog.blogspot.com
<*(:-? - wizard who doesn't know the answer.