Microsoft opens Office formats (and the future of Internet ads)

In today's IT Blogwatch, we look at Microsoft opening up Office formats. Not to mention a website that has a successful --albeit unusual -- advertising model.

Much ado about the new document format from Microsoft as the article from Elizabeth Montablano and Simon Taylor explains. The Computerworld blog of Martin MC Brown has this to say:  "Microsoft are planning on releasing the standard for Office 12 documents, which will be based on XML technology, as a standard approved by the ISO... Why does a document standard need ISO approval?  Because doing so would make it much more likely to appeal to governments and large corporations which like to use standards to ensure interoperability...  Why not simply open the standard? Because it would mean Microsoft would lose control of a vital part of their revenue stream -- sales of Office. Instead, by proposing the standard to the ISO they give the appearance of being open and honest, while actually retaining the control they currently enjoy ... Oddly, they could add OpenDocument support to Office, retain ownership, rights (and secrecy) about their own Office formats, and yet still remain compatible with, and competitive with products like OpenOffice and StarOffice that already support the OpenDocument standard."

» Groklaw:  "So, looks like it's war. Read the licenses on these file formats. That's my advice. If the license makes it impossible for GPL'd software to use the standard, then it isn't an "open" standard. It's just an anticompetitive maneuver against Microsoft's only real competition. This is so basic. Does Apple not know? Intel? It is interesting and telling that Microsoft found so few to stand up with them, but two is enough to make the assertion that the standard, if approved, is not tied to one vendor. You may wish to review David A. Wheeler's Open Letter to Microsoft for many more details"

» Some of Andy Updegrove's observations:  "The OASIS ODF Format Standard has already been placed in the queau at ISO for approval, via the Publicly Available Specification (PAS) process. Ecma may have committed to offer the Microsoft formats to ISO for adoption, but with ODF already in the protracted ballot stage at ISO, will the global body want to be bothered with a second, competing standard when it already (presumably) has endorsed a champion?...  What's the story on Apple and Intel? Did Microsoft turn them after the meeting only a bit more than two weeks ago in Armonk, did they attend as Fifth Columnists, or were they still deciding which side to come down on? I was there, and neither was vocal during the plenary sessions I attended (I don't recall whether they either had a representative in the strategy breakout group, but if they did, s/he did not participate meaningfully)."

» Joe Wilcox:  "The European locale is no accident. In May 2004, the European Union told Microsoft to submit its XML formats to a standards body and remove non-XML formatted components from WordML. The EU also told Microsoft to ship filters supporting the OASIS OpenDocument format. The EU has taken a highly favorable position to OpenDocument over Microsoft proprietary formats. Standards submission meets one of the EU recommendations, but it's my understanding that Microsoft has no immediate plans (if ever) to offer OpenDocument filters for Office."

» Brian Jones, program manager in Office:  "As I've been saying for the past 6 months, our goal with these formats was to open them up so that anyone could build solutions on top of them. We see this as a huge opportunity for Office to play a more vital role in business applications. It's something that we benefit from and so do our customers and partners. "  Later in this blog is a comment from  Darm McBride:  "...instead we are going to provide a very simple and general statement that we make an irrevocable commitment not to sue. I'm not a lawyer, but from what I can see, this 'covenant not to sue' looks like it should clear the way for GPL development which was a concern for some folks... Is it something in the water which makes its impossible for a Redmond employee understand the difference between an open standard and an ISO standard?  Microsoft employess remind me of that old Foster's commercial where patrons ask the Ozzie barkeep for coffee and he says 'Beer?'.  I'd also like to thank the Redmond crew for being responsible for a great supper tonight. I had bet a coworker that Microsoft was going to try an end run just like they did.  Excellent wings."

» Nicholas Carr:  "Microsoft has been an obstructionist on open documents for years, and the reason it's finally changing its ways is because governments have been holding a gun to its head, abandoning or threatening to abandon Office in favor of the open-source alternative OpenOffice. (Microsoft still refuses to make OpenOffice's Open Document format compatible with Office.) For Yates to say that Microsoft's announcement is "the beginning of the end for closed documents" is ludicrous. The beginning happened a long time ago, and Microsoft had nothing to do with it. It would be nice if the company acknowledged that.   So, sure, let's welcome this move. But my advice to the governments and other organizations that have spurred it is this: Keep up the pressure. "

Buffer overflow:

• Techdirt: When Security Software Goes Bad
• Techdirt: Email Is Not Dead Yet (Nor Any Time Soon)
• BeyondVC: The Importance of back channel reference checks
• Techdirt: Not Very Reformed eBay Scammer Falls Off The Wagon
• Lora:  Touch and Ink do work together.
• Kieren McCarthy:  THis is how a government-filtered internet looks
• Mitch Betts: Top retailers for IT ROI
• Robert L. Mitchell: Pulling apart the Tacit/Softricity bundle
• Douglas Schweitzer: Another valuable computer security website

And finally...  The future of Internet advertising?

He's gone again... Richi Jennings is an independent technology and marketing consultant, specializing in email, blogging, Linux, and computer security. A 20 year, cross-functional IT veteran, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. Contact Richi at blogwatch@richi.co.uk. Also contributing (mostly) to today's post: Judi Dey, our very own Antipodean.