Office 2007 – OpenXML to Become an Industry Standard
Microsoft’s new file format, OpenXML, is destined to be the required file format for government agencies, courts and law firm clients. Over the next two years, this will place tremendous pressure on law firms to use OpenXML as the default standard instead of Microsoft Office’s old binary format.
A case in point: In 2005, Massachusetts directed state government offices to save all documents as “OpenDocument” format files (backed by Sun Microsystems and IBM), already an ISO standard. Later, Massachusetts reversed its stance after Microsoft promised to turn over responsibility for the OpenXML format to Ecma International, a European standards body. In January 2007, Ecma submitted OpenXML to ISO, to speed-up the approval process. Microsoft saw the writing on the wall — open up the file format or die a slow death of application attrition.
It blows me away that firms are considering staying on the binary format. I say make the leap now before the gulf between the two precipices is too wide.
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