Report calls anti-OOXML crowd poseurs

Large organisations should consider adopting Microsoft's Office Open XML (OOXML) document format, according to new research.

Burton Group research directors Guy Creese and Peter O'Kelly released a report this week backing OOXML for the enterprise, saying of the heated debate inspired by the document format: "The competitive stakes are huge, and the related political posturing is sometimes perplexing."

The report concludes that organisations that already use Microsoft's Office should use the Office Open XML file formats which are the default in Office 2007.

While the authors predict that OOXML will gain significant market adoption, they add that OOXML's main rival, OpenDocument Format (ODF), will continue to have a market influence. ODF, which is the default file format of the open source OpenOffice suite, has seen growing interest from government customers concerned with long-term access to documents.

Burton Group argues that choosing OpenOffice or ODF is done primarily as an anti-Microsoft move saying in the report: "ODF should be seen as more of an anti-Microsoft political statement than an objective technology selection."

Opponents of the OOXML format believe that the software was released by Microsoft as a means of stifling the open source market.

IBM spokesperson and OOXML opponent Paul Robinson recently described the format to ZDNet Australia as a "redundant replacement for other standards".

The Burton Group study does however warn that Microsoft needs to live up to its commitments to make OOXML a standard that includes input from other vendors and customers.

"If Microsoft abuses standards initiatives, the market response will be swift and severe," the study concludes.