Sceptics question Microsoft move

Open source advocates have questioned Microsoft's commitment to using open document standards in the future. The computer giant has said it will implement use of the Open Document Format (ODF), "sometime next year". The Free Software Foundation Europe said: "It's a step in the right direction but we are sceptical about how open Microsoft will be." The European Commission, which has fined Microsoft for monopolistic practice, welcomed the move. "The Commission would welcome any step that Microsoft took towards genuine interoperability, more consumer choice and less vendor lock-in," it said. The Commission added that it would look into whether Microsoft's announcement "leads to better interoperability and allows consumers to process and exchange their documents with the software product of their choice". Governments will be looking for actual results, not promises in press releases Marino Marcich, ODF Alliance Open source software advocates have long criticised the file formats used by Microsoft's Office suite of programs because they are not genuinely interoperable with software from third parties. Microsoft has said it will add support for ODF when it updates Office 2007 next year. Georg Greve, president of the Free Software Foundation Europe, said he remained dubious about "how deep" Microsoft's adoption of the standard would go... BBC