RSSMicrosoft Office's ODF support might change the EC's mind
By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published May 23, 2008, 3:13 PM
Given the fact that the next changes to Microsoft Office will enable consumers to choose which native format it uses, the European Commission may find itself with no alternative but to reconsider its investigation into unfair competition allegations.
In a statement this morning from Brussels, the European Commission said it will consider whether Microsoft's move on Wednesday to embrace OpenDocument format addresses a complaint raised January 14 that the company continues to unfairly make it difficult for others to compete.
Two organizations -- the makers of the Opera browser and the European Committee for Interoperable Systems -- played a role in the EC opening up the newest leg of its investigation. Ostensibly, that complaint centered on Internet Explorer, and issues that had been raised as early as the mid-1990s during IE's browser war with Netscape Navigator. Nonetheless, the EC's statement this morning hyperlinked directly to its January 14 notice that it would revisit a multitude of interoperability complaints against the company.
The EC's statement reads in its entirety, "The European Commission has taken note of Microsoft's announcement on 21st May concerning supporting ODF in Office. The Commission would welcome any step that Microsoft took towards genuine interoperability, more consumer choice and less vendor lock-in. In its ongoing antitrust investigation concerning interoperability with Microsoft Office, the Commission will investigate whether the announced support of ODF (OpenDocument format) in Office leads to better interoperability and allows consumers to process and exchange their documents with the software product of their choice."
One portion of the ECIS' part of the January complaint does refer to whether Microsoft may have been attempting some exclusionary practices with regard to its Office suite.
"As regards interoperability, in its Microsoft judgment of 17 September 2007, the Court of First Instance confirmed the principles that must be respected by dominant companies as regards interoperability disclosures. In the complaint by ECIS, Microsoft is alleged to have illegally refused to disclose interoperability information across a broad range of products, including information related to its Office suite, a number of its server products, and also in relation to the so called .NET Framework. The Commission's examination will therefore focus on all these areas, including the question whether Microsoft's new file format Office Open XML, as implemented in Office, is sufficiently interoperable with competitors' products."
Microsoft has issued no statement on the matter today -- and with it being the Friday before Memorial Day, is not expected to; and the ECIS issued no statement as well. However, Marino Marcich who leads the ODF Alliance -- a group of governments, organizations, and vendors supporting software that treats ODF as its native format -- expressed skepticism that Microsoft's pledge last Wednesday was anything but a marketing ploy.
"The proof will be whether and when Microsoft's promised support for ODF is on par with its support for its own format," stated Marcich. "Governments will be looking for actual results, not promises in press releases...Clearly this announcement reflects the strong demand from customers worldwide, especially governments, for access to ODF, a truly universal, open standards-based file format. Microsoft continues to answer with a steady stream of promises. However, until Microsoft enables Office users to create and save in ODF by default as easily and fully as in Microsoft's own formats, governments will continue to adopt a 'buyer beware' attitude. Because Microsoft has a history of broken promises, no one should celebrate this news until we see what is actually done and how quickly it is put in place."
I think it is a very good decision for Microsoft because ODF is a better designed format. Simple self-interest.
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ODF is a better designed format.
Care to offer some reasoning behind that, or is it simply personal opinion on your part?
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It's sad that it takes anti-trust complaints to get them to do what's best for consumers.
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Pansy. ;)
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I think you have that all wrong... The percentage of people using MS Office is overwhelming compared to any other. I would think that by that criteria, that MS formats are the norm and that the rest of the software manufactures should adopt to that standard, not some barely used one like the EU would like.
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Even before MS Office existed as a suite, MS Word has terrible import/export capabilities on Windows and DOS, while the competition was doing more.
Microsoft isn't about to cooperate unless pushed.
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wtf?
I wasn't talking about your mom.
:-P
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That's a bad argument. MS Office hasn't always been the leader.
It's a great product, I would never argue otherwise however there are millions of Open Office users and now that MS supports ODF we can all get along. (I use both)
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Governments and businesses that want standardized document formats have many criteria. "What did we use yesterday?" is not one of them.
The biggest issue is vendor independance. Can you put out a bid request and get proposals from different vendors offering different products, or is there only one product and resellers who scrap over razor thin margins to provide the illusion of competition?
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*laughs*
Of course not, she always does what's best for her customers. ;)
Caveat Emptor. Buyer Beware.
Customers should make sure that the companies they buy from are doing what is best for them.
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Tried using OpenOffice at work.
We use a lot of macros in our excel files (VB).
Needless to say, it's not going to happen at our business any time soon...
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HAH!
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Yeah, there are a lot of reasons not to use OOo, that's one of them.
I prefer the Gnumeric spreadsheet over OOo, but I haven't compared them since OOo 2.0.
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But they can't - the MS 'standard' isn't open. Even their OOXML isn't entirely open - so how do you suggest other software manufacturers adopt their proprietary, licensed system? More to the point, why SHOULD they when they have a better, free format in ODF?
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Gnumeric doesn't by chance support VB, does it?
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Exactly how is ODF better again?
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Hmm, don't think so.
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This would be like complaining about a car manufacturer not making a car "flex-fuel" capable.
Sure they could, sure it would allow for more options, but I knew my car wasn't flex fuel when I bought it.
Now, ODF!=flex fuel, but neither are absolutely necessary to perform the functionality promised upon sale of the product, right?
Do what's right for the consumer??? If they wanted ODF, they had the option of OOo. As it stands, or will stand in the next SP of 2007, Ooo will *still* get them the same functionality as an ODF doc designed in Word. Same format=same functionality.
....and don't kid yourself that this was never about the consumer. Even in a Monopoly situation *all* business revolves around the consumer. ;)
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