Gartner Report: ISO Approval of OASIS OpenDocument Is a Blow to Microsoft
by Volker Weber
International standards bodies' unanimous approval of ISO/IEC 26300 moves OASIS OpenDocument Format to being the official XML document format. It is now unlikely that ISO will adopt Microsoft's Open XML document format.
Comments
Thanks for posting the link, Volker. The Gartner summary doesn't pull any punches, does it?
By 2010, ODF document exchange will be required by 50 percent of government and 20 percent of commercial organizations (0.7 probability).
... could also been read as "by 2010 propritary office document formats still will be mandatory for 50 percent of govermnment and 80 percent of comertial organization (70 percent probability)"
... or as: "there is 30 percent probability, that ISO will approve of Microsoft's XML Document Format (XDF) as well"
but let me predict something: there is 99 percent probability, that Microsoft's implementation of ODF in their own Products will be 100 percent compatible only if opened in another geniune Microsoft (Office) Product.
That's right, because Microsoft always adds their own technological innovation for to enable a premium computing experience for their customers.
I am always amazed how Gartner's research fellows are able to pin down the future so accurately. Has anyone ever encountered a Gartner forecast or prediction with a different probability than 0.7? Probably there's an autocomplete function in their preferred word processor which automatically completes any opening paranthesis with "0.7 probability)". And I doubt that this word processor can save in ODF. :-)
Anyone notice the irony? Check out the creator of the PDF document that Volker linked. Word :-)
p.s. Thanks for a great blog Volker, I've been a silent reader for some time now!
