Microsoft Backtracking on OpenDocument? Oct 17, 2005, 14 :30 UTC (13 Talkback[s]) (13700 reads)
ZDNet: Microsoft: We Were Railroaded in Massachusetts on ODF
"Warning. If you read any further, you will find yourself at ground 0.0 of the biggest battle the computer industry has ever seen. It is where the biggest warriors from the proprietary software world, the open standards world, and the open source world are engaged in hand-to-hand combat. At least for the moment, the open source and open standards worlds (the Rebel Alliance) appear to have joined sides against the proprietary warlords, led by Microsoft. Both on and off the field (where negotiators have failed to broker a truce), the engagement has not been pretty. But this is war. For the first time in the battle's history, the Rebel Alliance has dealt the warlords a stunning blow..."
Consortium Standards Blog: Microsoft Says "Maybe Someday" on OpenDocument
"Has Microsoft drawn a line in the sand on OpenDocument support? I had thought so when I wrote the Feature Article for the September issue of the Consortium Standards Bulletin. Among other things, Mike Pryke-Smith, Microsoft Office marketing manager, had been quoted in June stating that Microsoft would not open its formats up to a standards body, citing backwards compatibility issues as a reason for wanting to keep formats under its control.
"But apparently there is some flexibility on OpenDocument, and in truth Pryke-Smith made this point last June in the same Computer Business News Online article..."
