*EU examines Microsoft promise for open document format support*
On 22 May, EU regulators said they would study Microsoft Corp.'s
announcement that its software update next year will work with rival
document formats to see if it would allow customers to use a wider range
of software. The European Commission is again investigating whether
Microsoft has illegally refused to supply competitors with information
they need to make products compatible with Microsoft Windows - the
operating system used by most computers worldwide. This possibility of
further fines comes on the heels of EU antitrust action against
Microsoft, which resulted in the company handing over US$2.63 billion
(euro1.7 billion) in penalties.
Microsoft said Wednesday that it would start allowing Office 2007 users
to save files in the OpenDocument Format, or ODF, when it releases a
service pack 2 update in the first half of 2009 and set ODF as a default
storage format. The EU's executive arm said it had ''taken note'' of the
announcement and ''would welcome any step that Microsoft took toward
genuine interoperability, more consumer choice and less vendor
lock-in.'' The ODF Alliance said it was sceptical of Microsoft's promise
of support for ODF, saying the proof would be whether the support would
equal to that offered to OOXML.
ECIS (the European Committee for Interoperable Systems) represents IBM,
Nokia Corp., Sun Microsystems Inc., RealNetworks Inc. and Oracle Corp.
among others. They prompted the EU's new probe by complaining about
OOXML shutting out ODF. Despite numerous complaints, Microsoft’s OOXML
was approved as an international standard in April, which permits it to
be chosen by IT departments of governments and large organisations.
Microsoft's continues its antitrust battle with Brussels after its
appeal in May against a 899 million euro (US$ 1.3 billion) fine the
European Commission imposed in February 2008 because the company failed
to obey a 2004 antitrust order telling it to open up more to rivals.
/Source: based on Associated Press release, 22 May 2008, as reported in
MIT Technolocy Review online newsletter./
http://www.technologyreview.com/Wire/20818/?nlid=1093-------------
Roger Longhorn
ral@...
EGIP Archive:
http://www.ec-gis.org/egip/
