Burton Group: OOXML Best For Enterprises

By Greg McNevin

January 17, 2008: A new report from the Burton Group has somewhat put the boot into the Open Document Format (ODF) this week, claiming that large businesses who already use Microsoft Office should stick with Open XML (OOXML) in most situations, and that switching to ODF is more of an anti-Microsoft statement than anything else.

It’s been a bad few months for the open source format, with controversy marring the Swedish ISO vote and ODF losing the support of the Open Document Foundation, the group formed to support the format, soon after.

Now, after being taken up by many governments and other organisations around the globe the analysts at the Burton Group have released a new, free report titled “What’s Up, .DOC? ODF, OOXML, and the Revolutionary Implications of XML in Productivity Applications” that claims the choice to go with ODF over OOXML is primarily political posturing.

“For now ODF should be seen as more of an anti-Microsoft political statement than an objective technology selection,” reads the report.

That said, the report notes that ODF will continue to significantly influence the market, and while it claims that OOXML adoption is likely to grow in leaps and bounds it also acknowledges that Microsoft has a way to go on the open standards front - particularly when it comes to including input from other vendors and customers in its format.

“If Microsoft abuses standards initiatives,” warns the Burton Group in the report, “the market response will be swift and severe.”

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