Microsoft Office Formats Not Really Being Opened

Contradicting this earlier article claiming otherwise, smith_barney writes "Contrary to reports, Microsoft is not opening up its proprietary Office XML schemas. Essentially, the state of Massachusetts is simply repositioning what it considers an 'open format.' According to a report in BetaNews, Microsoft told the state it would ease licensing restrictions, but only for 'end users who merely open and read government documents.' This hasn't stopped Microsoft from tooting its horn, but Jupiter Research senior analyst Joe Wilcox says, 'Buzz about so-called open formats is little more than PR FUD.'"

Comments

question

[vdthemyk]

Isn't this like saying, "we wrote the English Dictionary so no one is allowed to read English without our approval?" To me, if you want to copyright an idea for a product, go ahead, if you want to protect intelluctual property, that's fine too, but formats for files? Come on! So what if my program can read and write files that your program reads and writes. As long as I didn't take your way of writing those files, I should be fine.

For those who haven't read this yet:

[bersl2]

The Future Is Open: What OpenDocument Is And Why You Should Care ~ by Daniel Carrera

Why don't you RTFAQ

[berglin]

How do you verify the accuracy of Slashdot stories?

Brazil Makes Move to Open Source Software

[Go_Ask_Alex]

From NPR...

"Morning Edition, January 31, 2005 The government of Brazil says it will switch 300,000 government computers from Microsoft's Windows operating system to open source software like Linux. Microsoft founder Bill Gates wants to meet with Brazil's president to discuss the change. Brazil is dropping all proprietary software."

Listen here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?story Id=4471963

The Brazilians are just saying no!