July 5th, 2007
Mass. is ready to play ball with Microsoft's Open XML format
Looks like Microsoft is going to win the battle of the file formats in Massachusetts. The commonwealth’s latest policy draft (RTF) indicates that Microsoft’s Office Open XML (OOXML) is an acceptable document format for state government, Ars Technica relates.
The document espouses the advantages of XML-based standards and states that all state agencies are expected to migrate from proprietary, binary office document formats to XML-based ones, initially through using ODF document translators with Microsoft Office 2003. Microsoft’s OOXML, which has been approved by the standardizing body Ecma, has been added as “another standardized XML-based file format specification suitable for office applications.” The document is subject to a short review period which will end on July 20.
You may recall that back in 2005, CIO Peter Quinn issued a recommendation that the state adopt Open Document Format and banish Microsoft products that don’t support that format. Immediately, all hell broke lose and by the end of the year, Quinn was forced out and Massachusetts was backpeddling.
In November, the office stated that they were “very pleased” with Microsoft’s efforts to submit Office XML to the Ecma standardization body and eventually came up with a compromise solution of using Microsoft Office with free ODF file translators. This latest move appears to bring the whole saga full circle, with Microsoft’s OOXML poised to step in and possibly steal the limelight from ODF.
While open source advocates are sorely disappointed in Massacchusetts’ retreat, Ars notes that OOXML, having won the relatively easy prize of ECMA approval, is being fast-tracked toward ISO approval, “a move which many ISO member nations are questioning.”
Microsoft has made OOXML the default format for Office and the reality is that OOXML, not ODF, will be the real-world standard. ISO status will give Microsoft the stamp of standards purity it needs to allow Massachusetts and other states to use Office without guilt. If less than perfect, OOXML is a big improvement over Microsoft’s earlier proprietary formats.
Having the format in a documented, human-readable format, opened up and approved by standardization organizations, is still an improvement for interoperability in our eyes, even if it’s not as big a step as some have hoped.
