Microsoft Prevails in Document Standards Fight

OOXML ratified as a global standard
By Jonas Oransky,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 2, 2008 1:47 PM CDT
Microsoft Prevails in Document Standards Fight
Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, addresses the media during a news conference at the CeBIT in Hanover, northern Germany, on Monday, March 3, 2008. The world's biggest IT fair will be opened by Ballmer, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy Monday evening.    (AP Photo/Joerg Sarbach)

Microsoft has won a heated battle to have one of its document formats made into a global standard, disappointing many who lobbied against the company and making the software giant more likely to win government contracts. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) okayed OOXML, leading a Microsoft rep to boast the format now had a “level playing field” with others, Reuters reports.

Many opponents were supporters of ODF, which is already an ISO standard; they argued that having multiple formats defeated the purpose of having standards in the first place. One critic said, “the fight over OOXML is really a fight over the future of competition and innovation”—noting Microsoft’s role as a monopolizing force. Some experts worry that OOXML and ODF are too dissimilar to allow real interoperability. (More Microsoft stories.)

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