Many Skeptical of Microsoft ODF Support

The European Commission says it's aware of Microsoft's promise for ODF support in Office 2007, but it — and others - are waiting to see if it really improves interoperability.

Microsoft’s announcement that it would support Open Document Format (ODF) v.1 after it releases Service Pack 2 for its Office 2007 productivity suite has been met with a certain degree of skepticism by the European Commission, which has had ongoing battles about interoperability with the company.

In a statement the Commission noted:

"The Commission would welcome any step that Microsoft took towards genuine interoperability, more consumer choice and less vendor lock-in. The Commission will investigate whether the announced support of ODF in Office leads to better interoperability and allows consumers to process and exchange their documents with the software product of their choice."

The EC has already levied a large fine on Microsoft for monopolisitic practices. The support for ODF will begin next year when SP2 is released.

But the EC isn’t the only organization not immediately convinced by the statement from Redmond. The Free Software Foundation Europe said:

"It’s a step in the right direction but we are sceptical about how open Microsoft will be."

Meanwhile, over at the Open Document Format Alliance, managing director Marino Marcich commented:

"The proof will be whether and when Microsoft’s promised support for ODF is on par with its support for its own formats. Governments will be looking for actual results, not promises in press releases.”

So the onus is now on Microsoft to deliver fully on its promises and win over the critics.