Office Open XML: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 14:05, 6 February 2007

Revision as of 14:21, 6 February 2007

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The Open XML standard has been the subject of wide and varied controversy in the computing industry, particularly from members of the [[free software movement]], independent software vendors,<ref name="isv_complaints">{{cite web

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and Microsoft's competitors [[Sun Microsystems]] and [[IBM]], most of whom favor the [[OpenDocument]]format, which is notably present in the freely available OpenOffice.org application suite.

The essential premise behind this criticism, apart from several technical issues, is that Microsoft has standardised its proprietary format in order to prevent the widespread adoption of the Open Document format, which could threaten the dominance of Microsoft's own Office suite. Furthermore, commentators have argued that while competitors will likely implement compatibility of the new standard in their own applications, Microsoft has not released any plans to similarly support the OpenDocument format.<ref

name="analyst_complaints_2">{{cite web

| url=http://lnxwalt.wordpress.com/2007/01/20/whats-wrong-with-choice/| title=Most contrived tech awards

| author=Walt Hucks

| pages=1

| format=HTML

| publisher=Opportunity Knocks

| date=[[January 20]] [[2007]]

| accessdate=2007-02-06

}}</ref> As the world's largest software company, Microsoft believes that its royalty-free format will end persistent incompatibility problems in working environments with diverse software applications due to its underlying foundation of strong industry standards such as XML and ZIP.<ref

name="Microsoft_opinion">{{cite web

| url=http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/HA102058151033.aspx

| author=Microsoft

| pages=1

| format=HTML

| publisher=Microsoft

| date=[[January 1]] [[2007]]

| accessdate=2007-02-06

}}</ref>

'''Voiced criticisms include''':

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* The 6000 page specification is too long to evaluate in the 30-day contradiction (only) review and the five-month ballot period.<ref>{{ cite web