Revisiting Open Document Format and Office Open XML: The Quiet Revolution Continues

Three years ago Peter O’Kelly wrote a paper titled, “What?s Up, .DOC? Open XML Formats, OpenDocument Format, and the Revolutionary Implications of XML in Productivity Applications.” This paper was an industry debate about the relative merits of Open XML Formats and OpenDocument Format and the significance of the productivity application market shift from binary and proprietary file formats to vendor- and product-independent XML models. In the paper he makes a number of projections about the market. He now returns to analyze his predictions and the current market.

Excerpt from the synopsis of the paper that Peter O’Kelly just uploaded to Slideshare:

It has been several years since the lively and highly polarized market debate about the relative merits and standards significance of the Open Document Format (ODF) and Office Open XML (OOXML) file format standards.  Although ODF and OOXML have since largely faded from the mainstream technology industry press and blogosphere radar, both standards have continued to evolve and gain market support, with significant benefits for all organizations seeking to optimize their use of information contained in documents created with productivity applications.

This document provides an overview of the status and significance of ODF and OOXML.  It starts with a summary of the business value of open and XML-based document formats, along with a review of the ODF/OOXML historical debate, including a recap of a widely-discussed January 2008 Burton Group report which included what were, at that time, considered provocative conclusions and market projections. 

The document continues with a summary of some of the most impactful ODF- and OOXML-related industry changes during recent years, including Microsoft’s (surprising, to many market observers) commitment to support and contribute to both ODF and OOXML, as well as Oracle’s acquisition of Sun Microsystems, and the acquisition’s ramifications for OpenOffice.org (which served as the starting point for ODF, in 2000).

The analysis concludes with some market projections about likely next steps, as both ODF and OOXML continue to evolve.

Revisiting Open Document Format and Office Open XML: The Quiet Revolution Continues