ITGumbo: spicing IT up

Still, there are several points of interest worth analyzing, especially considering the notable trend of governments across Europe and Asia stepping forward as supporters of open document standards. In this case, Norway joins a select few which understand the utter futility of supporting OpenXML and ODF. A critical point, indeed, as Microsoft refused to take part in the OASIS Working Group launched to get the ODF standard off the ground, but is now turning around and promoting OpenXML as open simply on terms that it is in the process of being made an ISO/IEC standard. Perhaps this move would have been more appropriate 5 years ago as a parallel effort to the development of ODF, but currently it brings the question of what exactly does OpenXML bring to the table that ODF does not? Other than better support for semantics and special formats from Microsoft's closed binary formats, what impels governments worldwide to look at OpenXML as a potential de-facto standard? These are questions that are being posed by the same governments as they attempt to rationalize the cost-benefits of both ODF and OpenXML.

More importantly the topic of merging OpenXML and ODF has once again emerged as a possibility. Personally, I remain an avid supporter of merging those two and any others which may overlap significantly. Especially considering the comparative ease of evolving open instead of closed standards. Not that there can't be any closely-related open standards, but one quality open document standard should mostly encapsulate the needs of a wide variety of use cases.

The question remains, is there really a need for another one or two or even three other formats which only contain minor differences? Succeeding versions of ODF, for example, should do well to address its own shortcomings towards the goal of developing into a complete standard. Along those lines, if OpenXML is stronger in terms of its support of Microsoft binary formats and is truly open, why not investigate the feasibility of merging the two? And if Microsoft is really serious about pushing OpenXML as an open standard, the company should have no problem at least entertaining such talk, right?

Of course, the reality is far from that straight forward as Microsoft will continue to use its might to delay even the inevitable (if format mergers prove to be such), under the guise of any number of reasons. Even if other countries are tipping the scales in the direction of open as opposed to closed and there are already similar proposals for integrating standardized document formats, it simply isn't in Microsoft's best interest to cave so soon. Not while they are investing resources in strengthening the community around OpenXML and definitely not before ODF has established enough traction across the globe such that there is little ground to be gained continuing along their current path.

What does this mean for the nations which have made and will continue to make a commitment to open standards? Well, first of all, if they harbor intentions of using mandatory support of open formats as a gateway to more flexible and cost-effective open source software solutions, OpenXML should most likely stay on their radar until ODF proves capable of altogether replacing it as a more Microsoft-friendly standard (not something the Redmond-based giant will make easy by any means). Secondly, they should continue to persist as active backers of the convergence of other standards across the world with ODF. This type of action will do more to strengthen the reach of ODF and hedge momentum on the side of fully open formats. Finally, it is also useful to watch for more implementations of OpenXML, which is currently only implemented by Office, and evaluate their quality as a barometer of the efficiency of the format itself.

About the blogger: Alex Fletcher is lead industry analyst at Entiva Group Incorporated, a research and analyst firm which concentrates exclusively on the open source software industry. His main focus is working to help clients of all sizes formulate strategy and policy surrounding their use of open source software within the enterprise. Alex has prior experience as a consultant, software engineer and start-up founder. He can be reached at alex dot fletcher -at- entivagroup dot com.