GeekPAC

In some of the video posted on this site from the April 17 JEDE committee hearing, one of the defenses Microsoft used to oppose AB 1668 is that everyone was already converging on standards so there was no need for legislation. I have always stated that if Microsoft’s OpenXML (or OOXML) passes all of the standards hurdles, then great, it can be accepted under the terms of the bill. I have the opposite view of Microsoft - if everyone is converging on standards, then let’s write it into law before the pendelum swings back the other way.

However, I just read a post on Bob Suter’s blog (Sutor works at IBM), and apparently OOXML won’t be so “open” after all. It would appear that some of the bits encoded into an OOXML doc require Microsoft Office to run. There are also ways to save binary files that only have relevance on a Windows platform. Luckily, AB 1668 would require multiple vendor implementations of any standard.

The reason it’s so difficult for Microsoft to tow the standards line is that their revenue depends on a continued Office monopoly, thus the reason they’re willing to spend significant resources fighting all of these open standards bills.