NEW ALLIANCE WORKS FOR DOCUMENT STANDARDS
The OpenDocument Format Alliance was launched this week to encourage
adoption of a format standard for documents used by government. The
concern is that by creating documents in proprietary formats,
governments risk being unable to access those documents if the format
becomes obsolete or the company that develops the format goes out of
business. The new alliance has 30 members, including corporations,
academic institutions, and professional and trade associations. The
group is pushing the OpenDocument Format, which would provide a
standard for text documents, spreadsheets, and
presentations.Currently, more than 90 percent of the market for such
document formats is controlled by Microsoft, though members of the new
alliance said their goal is not simply to overcome Microsoft's
dominance. For its part, Microsoft will release an alternative format,
called OpenXML Document Format, which is supported by a number of
companies including Apple, Intel, and Toshiba as well as the British
Library.
New York Times, 3 March 2006 (registration req'd)
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/03/technology/03open.html
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