Tussle over Office format
5th Sep 2005, 14:41 GMT
Massachusetts has caused a stir with a draft plan calling for state agencies to adopt the OASIS OpenDocument format by Jan. 1, 2007. Such a move would shift those agencies away from Microsoft Office to alternative programs. More information is available on this Massachusetts site. Here's the statement on the issue from Massachusetts Chief Information Officer Peter Quinn. The draft document (PDF, pages 16-20) outlines the plan to shift to open formats. It defines open formats not as those "controlled and supported by just one software developer" but rather as those that are "based on an underlying open standard, developed by an open community, affirmed and maintained by a standards body and are fully documented and publicly available." Microsoft is shifting in the next version of Office to a format that it calls "Microsoft Office Open XML." As noted previously, however, the format doesn't seem to fit the traditional definition of "open." Responding to the Massachusetts developments, Microsoft today issued a statement that read, in part: We share the view that XML is the ideal format for data interoperability and archiving of public records, and that is why deep support for industry standard XML has been key for Office development for many years. However we dont believe the answer to public records management is to force a single document format on everyone which may be less functional than what they already have. Its an odd proposal when other Massachusetts state agencies are actively talking to us about how our products can best meet all their data and records needs from traditional documents to pictures, audio, video, voice, voice-over-IP as it develops, data, database schema, web pages, and XML information. As we look to the future, all of these forms are becoming increasingly intertwined. Locked in formats like OpenDocument do not adequately address that issue as this proposal acknowledges. Its specifically this need for choice and flexibility led Microsoft to design Office in a way that supports any XML schemas that a customer chooses, a capability lacking in less functional formats. See additional coverage by the Financial Times, BetaNews and CNet News.com. Microsoft's Brian Jones weighs in here, and David Berlind of ZDNet comments on Jones' post in this blog entry.
Latest news from seattlepi.com Microsoft Blog:
- More Zune reviews
- Microsoft annual meeting
- Microsoft's China policy, and more from annual meeting
- A new, familiar face at Microsoft Watch
- Reporting from Microsoft's annual meeting
- Zune on CNN: 'May I show you my new Shuffle?'
- Zune on CNN: 'May I show you my new Shuffle?'
- In line for the PS3
- Ballmer on Novell, Linux and patents