Microsoft Takeover of ODF?

Groklaw has an interesting story about a possible takeover attempt by Microsoft on the Open Document Format (ODF) standard. While I don't have the time or inclination to read and analyze all the gobbly-gook that is put out in the form of standards, Groklaw has, as usual, done a serious analysis after research. It certainly looks like the committee is stacked in Microsoft's favor, which should probably be no surprise.

Of course, to someone on the fringe of technoville, this seems a bridge too far to understand. What needs to be understood by everyone is that this is about the future of how documents are passed around and who they can be passed to. An open standard allows people to share their work more easily; a closed standard creates all manner of trouble - as Microsoft itself has exemplified.

However it works out, one has to wonder what Microsoft's interest in ODF extends to. Microsoft's interest in ODF isn't sufficient to sentence Microsoft; many people (including myself) have often pointed out that Microsoft's lack of support for standards other than it's own seems like an extension of it's monopolistic practices. Before we start arming the villagers with torches and pitchforks, we might want to consider the motive of Microsoft. Historically, Microsoft's involvement could be seen as an attempt at sabotage of the open standard since Microsoft has a tendency to do this with private companies. Will it do it with an open standard? It's hard to say, but I must admit a bit of suspicion.

Even so, if Microsoft were to see my optimistic side, I could see how Microsoft could add value to ODF - like permitting royalty free use of it's patents to assure compatibility of ODF with it's own standards.

Unfortunately, the optimistic side is squelched by the fact that - as Groklaw pointed out - the committees carry a heavy Microsoft bias. Groklaw quotes this blog entry by Alex Brown:

Day 0 had been concluded with a tasty Korean meal (washed down with possibly a tad too much Korean vodka) and it was very interesting to hear some of the views from NB members on how they thought the office formats future will play out (and no, there were no Microsoft, IBM or Ecma people at the table). One view was that ODF had served its purpose (to get MS formats out into the open) and should now declare victory before fading away gracefully; another was that OOXML would surely become the default format of the OpenOffice.org suite, and that this would crystallize the real option users had: to use FOSS or commercially-licensed Office packages. I’m not sure I’d go with either of these but still, it was refreshing to get some new perspectives rather than the stale repetitions that have too often characterised the exchanges of the past months. It will be interesting to see what really happens ... personally I think ODF is more likely to emerge as a kind of “default choice” than OOXML (not perhaps, that most users care)...

For context, Alex Brown is the founding director of Griffin Brown Digital Publishing, "a UK-based company providing XML-based services and products" and member "British Standards Institute (BSI) Technical Committee IST/41, where he contributes to ISO/IEC JTC1/SC34", and is also the convenor.

How many Microsoft employees does it take to destroy an open standard? 8, maybe...