Microsoft is losing its war on document standards, ODF is now UK's official document format


odf is uk's official document format

Document standards war were a thing of the past. Microsoft was trying to push its proprietary OpenXML documents format as the new standard while the rest of the world was hoping for a more open, "no-strings attached" open document format (ODF) as the new standard. Eventually Microsoft accepted defeat and promised to support ODF. But the progress was slow. UK government has stepped in now and made it clear that ODF will be its new official standardised document format. Sign of things to come, we believe.

ODF is the new official document format in UK
Here's what the UK's Minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude had to say about his government's adoption of ODF: "Government will begin using open formats that will ensure that citizens and people working in government can use the applications that best meet their needs when they are viewing or working on documents together."

UK's shift to Open Documnets Format (ODF) is seen as a triumph of open standards over proprietary alternatives by open source community. Official office suites are required to have support of ODF in UK without any exceptions.

"Our long-term plan for a stronger economy is all about helping UK businesses grow. We have listened to those who told us that open standards will reduce their costs and make it easier to work with government. This is a major step forward for our digital-by-default agenda which is helping save citizens, businesses and taxpayers £1.2 billion ($2.05bn) over this Parliament," the minister added. [Read the full report on ZDNet]