Gartner: Open XML “would have been a better choice than ODF as the single standard”

Gartner has published a report about document format standards. They have pointed out a number of key challenges related to document format standards, and illustrate clearly some of the issues that remain from the Open XML and ODF ratification waves.

This report offers several interesting conclusions about the utilization of document formats and exactly how they are relevant to a productivity situation. I have mentioned before (and strongly concur with their point of view) that people use products, and making decisions about user productivity certainly involves a lot more than looking at the list of supported file formats.

There isn't really a need to offer quotes from the report, it is written plainly and offers some candid views on the politics, the role of Microsoft and the reality of document exchange.

It underscores the work we have yet to do on improving document interoperability.

Comments

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Comme à l'accoutumé, voici une brochettes de liens de la semaine sur Open XML. Posts techniques en vrac

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Gartner is in control of these rights, not me. Unfortunately there isn't anything for me to do about this apart from asking you to save a tree :).

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Xeibo@gmail.com, We did not fund this report. This is a Gartner Research note, one of many that they create and publish. But I agree, it is pretty sad when people show up on my blog trying to smear the formats or smear people who make comments about them. I thought we were past that as well.

• Anonymous
  November 21, 2008
  I think there are even issues of interoperability within Open XML. Most important questions for customers going to use Office 2007 are:

1. How interoperable will the current Office 2007 Open XML formats be with the new ISO Office Open XML formats?
2. For how many years will the current Office 2007 Open XML formats be readable and fully supported in Microsoft's new Office Editions? Please let us know, so we have a base to decide whether it's a good idea to switch over from legacy formats to Office 2007 Open XML formats or if it's more advisable to wait for the implementation of ISO Open XML.

• Anonymous
  November 21, 2008
  Microsoft (Ok, not MS but an analyst firm funded by MS) releases a study about how OOXML is better than ODF... Hmnn are we back to February or something? By the way, why are you using the misleading "Open XML" tag? IT is NOT Open XML , it is "Office open XML" while in reality it means "optionally-open xml", please don't mislead like that.

• Anonymous
  December 01, 2008
  Hi Gray, Did Microsoft or Gartner decide to prevent print-out of the document? (and could you please see to that it is "undone"?) :o) /Jesper

• Anonymous
  December 02, 2008
  Gray, Well, it must be one of those occasions where you are f***** either way. Given a choice between saving a tree and the added CarbonDioxide-emission from reading it on my laptop (and the extra weight in the bus from the added 6 lbs) I'm not really sure what to pick. :o)