Re: Of course it won't get rid of MS
"Outside UK.gov itself, people will send the government documents in the format of their choosing. UK.gov will read documents in whatever format they come in."
In my experience in dealing with govs in general, you either punch in the data in an ad-hoc piece of software (either online or downloadable application) or you sent the doc in the precise format they ask. They most certainly don't "read documents in whatever format they come in". You do have to send it in their specified format or it goes directly to the bin. It used to be MS formats most of the time; sometimes even the version is indicated. I have had to install software specifically for gov dealing-with purpose; on a dual-boot machine kept specifically for that usage, using MS licences bought specifically. If I could have had sent ODF files at the time I would have save a few hundred quids. No biggie, but still.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
