,----[ Quote ]
| As Microsoft prepares the biggest update ever of its ubiquitous
| Office software suite, it is once again fending off charges of using
| hardball business tactics to muscle out competitors.
|
| [...]
|
| Massachusetts is not alone in realizing that proprietary document
| formats pose a problem for cross platform organizations.
|
| "Public administrations and regulated businesses were worried about
| meeting Freedom of Information requirements if documents were stored
| in a long-extinct proprietary data format," says John McCreesh,
| marketing project lead for OpenOffice.org.
|
| The international community has yet to decide on a standard document
| format, though recent trends see ODF gaining ground. Seven nations
| (Brazil, France, Germany, Belgium, Croatia, Norway and Demark)
| have recognized ODF and the need for open standards for all
| government documents.
|
| Microsoft's intentions notwithstanding, multiple standards mean
| added headaches for the competition. Rival online productivity
| suites like Zoho, Google Docs and Spreadsheets, which are quickly
| gaining popularity, and open-source desktop apps Sun Microsystem's
| OpenOffice all currently support ODF and not OOXML.
|
| "Zoho will have to support both formats and will do it going
| forward," says Zoho's Raju Vegesna. "While we support standards,
| we also have to look at practicality."
|
| "If we were to choose a format, we would pick ODF," says
| Vegesna.
`----
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/software/0,72403-0.html?tw=wn_technology_7";
|
|
