Massachusetts and Microsoft are at war over standards for office documents, with Microsoft insisting on the big O–as in Office. Although Microsoft is open to an XMLish approach, it insists on its schema. Will it use high-priced lobbyists to get its way?
Solution: Microsoft needs to grow up and embrace open standards. If it dislikes existing approaches, it can always push for better ones. Will an open word-processing format mean the end of Microsoft Word? Nope. Microsoft can add real value through the right interface and integration with its other products. And the use of an open format wouldn’t exactly hurt in its future battlea with anti-trust regulators (do you really think that George Bush will be in power forever?).
I’m speaking from the gut here. Even now, I find Word’s interface to be preferrable to that of OpenOffice. In a related vein, in working to tame Mambo, the open source content managment system which actually is easier than many open alternatives, I’m encountering lots of complexity that a well-funded usability effort could reduce or eliminate. Products from Microsoft and other monster companies are not always easier to use than open source programs, but this is often the case and certainly in case of Word–even with Sun’s relationship with OpenOffice. Here’s to both standard commercial efforts and open source! That’s what we have in mind with OpenReader. Give the end users the widest possible choice. Standard formats, whether for word-processing or digipubs, could help. Let Microsoft and the open source people slug it out.
Detail: Yes, I’m aware: A major debate rages over just how open source Mambo really will end up being. Adding to the fun, I see that some unhappy developers of Mambo are going with a truly silly-sounding name–Joomla–for their forked version of Mambo. I sympathize with the developers’ plight. But Mambo is memorable and makes me think of a lively dance. Joomla is simultaneously stupid and hard to remember. Too bad. I really like Joomla’s beautiful site.
(Via InformationWeek and Slashdot.)
