Microsoft could easily add the ability for Office to read and write OpenDocument files. They just aren't going to, barring legislation; because actually competing on a level playing field would be commercial suicide for Microsoft.

The only reason anybody uses Microsoft Office is because nothing else can read and write .doc and .xls files properly (for which only Microsoft are to blame, since they are the ones keeping the file format secret).

Most of those Office users, of course, don't pay for it -- and if they had to pay for Office, most of them would rather put up with "something else" occasionally munging a bit of formatting when importing a document.

And Microsoft are just fine with that; because as long as those users are using pirated Office, they're learning how to use Office and not some alternative. And if people know Microsoft Office, then that's what industry will choose -- and industry, by and large, does pay for the software it uses.

I've been using OpenOffice.org for years - since before it was known as such, in fact - and will not touch MS Office, ever. I used WordPerfect before OOo.

I agree completely re: MS Office users who don't pay for it learning it then using it in their jobs (where it is paid for,) and it is a sad state of affairs indeed.

It would have been nice for MS Office to be able to produce ODF documents as an option - it would make the world a better place for web development etcetera, where there could be one standard easily accessible and useful to all. So MS Office won't play with standards, and that is not news. I am happy to use something that will.

If familiarity is the only reason that a product is a household name, then there are just too few of us with rational thought operating computers today. Where's natural selection when you need it most?

I've posted a lengthy response to this article in hopes of filling in the missing pieces;

<a href="http://openstack.blogspot.com/2007/10/cdf-and-grand-convergence.html">CDF and Grand Convergence</a>

Sorry i couldn't fit the response into the Register's comments.

~ge~

The short version is that The Register got lost in the acronym alphabet soup; da Vinci still lives and breathes. It's just that we will no longer try to hammer OpenDocument into a set of market requirements outside the ODF charter and scope of design. That ended in April of 2007. What we're doing now is refactoring da Vinci to support the W3C's Compound Document Formats ("CDF"). It's work, it's fun, and it's truly liberating.

Full response at: <a href="http://openstack.blogspot.com/2007/10/cdf-and-grand-convergence.html">"CDF and Grand Convergence"</a>

Hope this helps, and thanks for the consideration,

~ge~