Linux Today - OOXML/ODF: Just One Battlefield in a Much Bigger War

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 02:17:32 -0000

excellent discussion of why the ISO standardization of OOXML is so importnat to Microsoft.

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

If the OOXML format in its current form cannot get made into a true ISO standard, it could lock Microsoft out of any future plays in what could be the biggest IT revolution to date.

Here are the pieces of the puzzle that fit together for me:

"Amazon SimpleDB is a web service for running queries on structured data in real time."

"Structured data." And what's a good way to contain such data? In well-built structured data file format of course. Like, for instance, the Open Document Format (ODF). And who has a vested interest in ODF? IBM certainly does. And so does Sun. And these two companies, along with Google, Microsoft, and I'm sure many others, realize that if cloud computing does indeed take off, then it will be the file format that makes the whole thing work.

Which is why Microsoft feels it must get their format standardized. Even with tactics that ironically have started to attract the attention of the EU again. How else can they get a piece of the cloud pie?

Tags: cloud-computing grid-computing odf ooxml openxml

Posted by: garyedwards

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Linux Today - OOXML/ODF: Just One Battlefield in a Much Bigger War