A genuine open-standard format

Genuine Open-Standard Format for Office Documents Already Available

25 November 2005

OpenOffice.org believes that the demand for a genuine open-standard  
format for office documents is overwhelming. Users of office software  
are coming to realise that their real investment lies not in the  
software itself, but in the spreadsheets, databases, and  
wordprocessing documents which they have created:  their own  
intellectual property. The only way to guarantee access to this  
investment long term is for the data to be stored in a vendor- 
neutral, open-standard format.

Microsoft's announcement on Monday, 21 Nov., that it recognises the  
market pressure for open-standard data formats is a welcome  
development.  But why opt for a new standard? OpenDocument, which  
OpenOffice.org uses, is approved by OASIS - the standards body for  
XML data formats in business; OASIS is sponsored by all the leading  
names in IT, including Microsoft. In addition, OpenDocument was  
submitted to the International Standards Organisation (ISO) on 30  
September 2005 for ratification.

OpenDocument is a genuine vendor-neutral, open-standard  
specification, free from intellectual property encumbrances, so that  
all developers are free to work with it, including open-source  
developers.

Vendors and developers do not need to continue with the current  
limiting industry standard, as the OpenDocument standard is available  
now. Utilising an open-standard, such as OpenDocument, driven and  
supported by many vendors, is of huge benefit to organisations and  
their customers. Interoperability between different applications and  
potential new ventures formed among vendors supporting OpenDocument  
will stimulate innovation.

Following an open process, the OASIS OpenDocument Technical Committee  
has a long term commitment to extend, improve, and maintain the  
standard as technology changes. Membership is open to anyone and  
users of OpenDocument may view the OpenDocument proceedings and  
participate in an increasing number of forums. See: 
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=office

OpenOffice.org and other open-source projects are well placed to lead  
and contribute to the innovation of new e-business applications  
utilising the OpenDocument file format specification.

About OpenOffice.org

The OpenOffice.org Project is an international community of  
volunteers and sponsors including founding sponsor and primary  
contributor, Sun Microsystems. OpenOffice.org develops, supports, and  
promotes the open-source office productivity suite, OpenOffice.org.  
The project can be found at http://www.openoffice.org/.  
OpenOffice.org supports the Open Document Format for Office  
Applications (OpenDocument) OASIS Standard and is available on major  
computing platforms in over 60 languages. OpenOffice.org is provided  
under the GNU Lesser General Public Licence (LGPL).

Press Contacts

Jacqueline McNally (UTC +08h00)
OpenOffice.org Marketing Project Lead
jacqueline@openoffice.org
+61 (8) 9474-3021

John McCreesh (UTC +00h00)
OpenOffice.org Marketing Project Co-Lead
jpmcc@openoffice.org
+44 (0)7 810 278 540

Louis Suarez-Potts (UTC -05h00)
OpenOffice.org Community Manager
louis@openoffice.org
+1 (416) 625-3843

Worldwide Marketing Contacts

http://marketing.openoffice.org/contacts.html

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