Pubblicato sul sito www.openoffice.org:
http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/55607/

Riporto un paio di pass che dimostrano come Microsoft stia cercando di correre ai ripari.

The background is the growing battle over the office suite. Until recently, Microsoft Office held undisputed sway over this sector, and alternative options from Lotus or Corel made absolutely no difference to its dominant market share. Even the appearance of OpenOffice.org 1.0 four years ago had little impact.

But things have changed dramatically with the release of OpenOffice.org 2.0. Not so much because of the software – even though it is a big improvement over the useful but unspectacular version 1.0 – but because of the file format it employs. The formalization of the OpenDocument Format ODF by the international standards body OASIS has transformed the office suite landscape.

For the first time, there is now an official standard for office application file formats, and one that is completely open and vendor-neutral. Where before rival office suites merely presented proprietary alternatives to Microsoft's own closed standards, ODF allows manufacturers to rally round a common standard. The list of those already supporting ODF is already quite impressive, and the roll-call seems certain to grow. And the more that join, the more powerful the standard becomes.
Microsoft's extreme concern at this turn of events explains its sudden decision to submit its own office formats as official standards – although the terms of reference for the process are not quite what anybody else would think of as a normal standards ratification process. In this way, it presumably hopes to match ODF's claim that it is a true, de jure not de facto, standard.

Even more dangerously, the company has named these new formats Microsoft Office Open XML. Note the word “open" here: Microsoft is using a term which hitherto stood in stark opposition to everything the company represents. By employing “open" in this way – however apparently minor or unimportant – it has begun a subtle process of devaluation.
Interessantissima anche l'analisi del termione open, che dopo le mosse di Microsoft rischia di perdere il significato fino ad oggi attribuitogli.