ODF threat to Microsoft in US governments grows

"California has introduced a bill to make open document format (ODF) a mandatory requirement for agencies when acquiring software, turning up the heat on Microsoft. The bill follows similar legislation in Texas and Minnesota and adds further to the pressure on Microsoft which is pushing its own proprietary Office Open XML (OOXML) document format in the recently released Office 2007.

The Californian legislation comes at a time for Microsoft when it already has its hands full trying to convince users to move to its new operating system Vista and upgrade to Office 2007, both of which involve considerable cost. Microsoft is also under regulatory pressure in Europe from the European Commission (EC), as well as a number of European Governments which have already adopted ODF."

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http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/10150/53/