LinuxWorld: Is the Sky Falling and the End Near for Open Source?

“Does what Microsoft is doing with XML spell the end for
open-source office applications in general and OpenOffice.org in
particular?

“Gary Edwards, a design consultant for Web applications and
OpenOffice.org’s representative on the OASIS Open Office XML Format
Technical Committee, seems to think so. Certainly, he has
repeatedly expressed his concern that next-generation Microsoft
Office Suites will force an even greater degree of Microsoft
lock-in than current releases do.

“Edwards is undoubtedly right to be worried. Microsoft’s use of
XML is sufficiently Microsoft-centric that the price of use will
almost certainly include platform-consistency–meaning that all
users must be at the same release level for both the Microsoft
operating system and Microsoft Office. Because Microsoft Office
documents operate a bit like Internet worms, spreading Microsoft
Office wherever they land simply because there’s no other
reasonable way for the recipient to access them, the concern is
that early adopters will force their business partners to follow
suit and eventually lock out open-source products like
OpenOffice.org…”

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