Games - Microsoft position on OpenDocument support

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The OpenDocument format (ODF), short for the OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications, is an open document file format for saving and exchanging editable office documents such as text documents (including memos, reports, and books), spreadsheets, charts, and presentations. This standard was developed by the OASIS industry consortium, based upon the XML-based file format originally created by OpenOffice.org.

The standard was publicly developed by a variety of organizations, is publicly accessible, and can be implemented by anyone without restriction. The OpenDocument format is intended to provide an open alternative to proprietary document formats including the popular but undocumented DOC, XLS, and PPT formats used by Microsoft Office, as well as Microsoft Office Open XML format (this latter format has various licensing requirements that prevent some competitors from using it). Organizations and individuals that store their data in an open format such as OpenDocument avoid being locked in to a single software vendor, leaving them free to switch software if their current vendor goes out of business, raises their prices, changes their software, or changes their licensing terms to something less favorable.

OpenDocument is the only standard for editable office documents that has been vetted by an independent recognized standards body, has been implemented by multiple vendors, and can be implemented by any supplier (including proprietary software vendors as well as developers using the non-proprietary GNU GPL).

Microsoft refuses for the moment to support the OASIS OpenDocument format, claiming that it lacks independent implementations and important functionality, although it has hinted that it may change its position in the future.

Independent implementations

Microsoft's letter to Massachusetts claimed that all current OpenDocument implementations were based on OpenOffice.org and its derivatives. However, this turns out to be false. For example, KOffice is a completely independent implementation of OpenDocument not based on OpenOffice.org—their main functions have been implemented independently, and even their code for reading and writing the OpenDocument format was developed independently (Wallin, 2005). This is important, because independent implementations from the same specification are generally considered the best way to find and fix any problems in a specification. For example, the IETF even requires two independent implementations for its final stage of standardization.

The first independent application to implement OpenDocument was KOffice. OpenDocument was developed starting from an XML format developed for OpenOffice.org; OpenOffice.org has since been updated so that it also supports OpenDocument.

Missing functionality?

Another rationale used is that OpenDocument is missing some important functionality, though Microsoft has not identified any particular missing functionality (making this claim difficult to prove or refute). Many are very skeptical of this claim; ZDNet said, "Does OpenDocument, which is the result of a lot of hard work from people fully versed in contemporary corporate computing, really fail at the very things it was designed to provide?", and closes urging Microsoft to add support for OpenDocument (ZDNet UK, September 2 2005). InfoWorld's Neil McAllister noted that even if OpenDocument were missing important functionality, this statement is inconsistent; Microsoft Office already supports formats with far less functionality than OpenDocument (such as HTML and ASCII text). Instead, he believes that the real reason Microsoft is not supporting OpenDocument is because "An open document standard won't help Microsoft lock in its loyal addicts—excuse me, customers—so an open standard isn't in Microsoft's business interests. Microsoft refuses to support OpenDocument; it doesn't get more bald-faced than that" (McAllister 2005).

Future plans

Recent reports suggest that Microsoft is considering supporting OpenDocument in the future; at this time it has not committed itself either way. Nick Tsilas, a Senior Attorney at Microsoft, said that, "features are dictated by customer demand and, until the Massachusetts-related activity occurred, Open Document was not even on our radar screens." This is a surprising revelation, because in 2004 the European Union directed all parties (including Microsoft) to get involved with the OpenDocument standard. Microsoft General Manager of Information Worker Business Strategy Alan Yates confirmed that this was the company position; "For us this has been, and will continue to be a matter of evaluating the flow of customer requirements, and this is a new issue." (Updegrove, 2005)

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