2016-12-08 12:08:50 +00:00
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<html>
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2020-04-15 09:46:59 +00:00
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<version>1</version>
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2016-12-08 12:08:50 +00:00
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<head>
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2020-07-27 12:52:33 +00:00
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<title>MS-OOXML – Overview</title>
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2016-12-08 12:08:50 +00:00
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</head>
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<body class="article" microformats="h-entry">
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<p id="category">
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2020-07-22 10:30:52 +00:00
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<a href="/activities/activities.html">Our Work</a>
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2016-12-08 12:08:50 +00:00
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</p>
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<h1 class="p-name">MS-OOXML: a pseudo-standard that pretends to be open</h1>
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<div class="e-content">
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<div id="introduction">
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<p>Since the very beginning of the standardisation process for Microsoft's
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Office Open XML - OOXML (hereinafter MS-OOXML), the FSFE has expressed
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serious doubts about whether MS-OOXML could be considered as open, if
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even, as a standard at all. The FSFE first raised the issue in the
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community and led the movement against the standardisation of MS-OOXML,
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following closely over the years the relevant developments. But why
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can MS-OOXML still not be considered an<a href="/freesoftware/standards/standards.en.html">
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Open Standard</a>, despite its approval by international standards
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organisations?</p>
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</div>
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<h2 id="What-is-microsoft's-ooxml">What is Microsoft's OOXML?</h2>
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<p>MS-OOXML is an XML-based format for office documents developed by
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Microsoft. It covers word processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations,
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charts, diagrams, shapes, and other graphical material. MS-OOXML was first
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adopted in 2006 by <a href="http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-376.htm">
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ECMA International</a> - a private international standards organisation -
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allegedly as an Open Standard.</p>
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<p>In 2008, the International Standards Organisation (ISO) also approved
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the MS-OOXML, as international Open Standard under the
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<a href="http://standards.iso.org/ittf/PubliclyAvailableStandards/index.html">
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ISO/IEC 29500</a>, after Microsoft requested fast-track process.
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ISO approved the standard despite the fact that it was initially rejected,
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due to a big number of justified concerns expressed by its national member
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bodies.</p>
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<h2 id="how-did-we-get-there">How did we get there?</h2>
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<p>In 2001 a collective effort started to create an open document format,
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promoting Open Standards and trying to limit Microsoft's office software
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monopoly. The result of this effort which lasted four years, was the Open
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Document Format v1.0 (ODF), implemented with Free Software. It was first
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approved in 2006 as an <a href="https://www.oasis-open.org/">OASIS Standard</a>
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and later, by <a href="http://www.iso.org/iso/home.html">ISO</a>/IEC JTC1
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as an International Standard, under the code ISO/IEC 26300:2006. Such a
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format could threaten Microsoft's dominant position in the Document market,
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which at the time ran on closed formats. Under the fear of losing its power,
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the latter produced its own allegedly open document through a dubious ISO
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approval process.</p>
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<p>As it can be imagined, the "new" format seemed in a first vote unnecessary
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to the ISO working group since there was already an existing document standard
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-ODF- and was, therefore, rejected. However, Microsoft, in a more political
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than technical process, got its proposal fast-tracked even though specific
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clauses of it still met resistance from the national member bodies. And
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this is the point in the revision process, where a suggestion came on the
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table, to create two sub-standards of MS-OOXML, namely ISO 29500 Transitional
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and ISO 29500 Strict. Here is what happened: the Strict version got accepted
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by ISO, while the Transitional version was granted to Microsoft, allowing
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it to exclude certain legacy features and facilitating conversion from the
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older closed-source binary formats.</p>
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<p>ISO then gave its approval to MS-OOXML in 2008, and justified its decision
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by claiming that the market needed another document standard. It is noteworthy
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that Microsoft did not have, at the time of the approval, an available
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version of Microsoft Office that would be compliant to the ISO/IEC standard
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it has just passed. That was the result of the multiple changes on the original
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version of the standard in order for the approval process to move forward.</p>
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<p>Consequently, although the older binary formats (.doc, xls, and .ppt)
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continued to be supported by Microsoft, MS-OOXML became the default standard
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of all Microsoft Office documents (.docx, .xlsx, and .pptx), starting
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with Microsoft Office 2007. Nevertheless, MS-OOXML Transitional is the
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only variant in widespread use and this is a note to keep in mind: those
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dual requirements led to a situation where one standard exists, and
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another format is fully implemented and spread all around, despite just
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having the status of an undocumented, proprietary specification. In other
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words, something that started as an intent to enable a transitional period
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was turned into a norm, setting obstacles to any interoperability claims.</p>
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<p>At a glance, Microsoft Office 2010 provides read-support for ECMA-376,
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read/write-support for ISO/IEC 29500 Transitional, and read support for
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ISO/IEC 29500 Strict. Microsoft Office 2013 and Microsoft Office 2016
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additionally support both reading and writing of ISO/IEC 29500 Strict.
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However, in all of them, the default option is the transitional one, meaning
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that the strict standard is still not used in practice, unless the
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users change the default settings ad hoc.</p>
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<h2 id="is-ms-ooxml-a-true-open-standard">Is MS-OOXML a true open standard?</h2>
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<p>Although many people share the assumption that some widely used formats
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can be identified as Open Standards, there is a number of them that does
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not comply with the criteria listed in the
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2020-07-17 13:58:04 +00:00
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<a href="/freesoftware/standards/def.en.html">Open Standards definition</a>.
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2016-12-08 12:08:50 +00:00
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MS-OOXML is one of them, the so-called pseudo-standards.</p>
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<h3 id="dual-standards">Dual Standards</h3>
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<p>As first objection, MS-OOXML could be seen as unnecessary. Software
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engineers could instead use Open Document Format (ODF), as a less
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complicated office software format that was already an international
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standard at the time of the MS-OOXML review process, is also built upon XML
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technology and has the same theoretical capabilities. Microsoft itself
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is a member of OASIS, the organisation in which the ODF standard was
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developed and where it is being maintained. Microsoft was aware of the
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whole process and was invited to participate, but allegedly refused to do
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so, although it could have submitted its technological proposals to OASIS
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for inclusion into ODF. Having two overlapping standards for the same thing
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creates only further burden and confusion, and can be detrimental for
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competition.</p>
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<h3 id="compatibility-and-interoperability">Compatibility and interoperability</h3>
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<p>One of the alledged main advantages of MS-OOXML was its ability to allow
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for backward compatibility. However, in practice MS-OOXML seems to be
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compatible only with Microsoft documents, whilst its interoperability with
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products from other vendors appears to have been made extremely complicated
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by design. This is also related to the fact that MS-OOXML was initially
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designed to be compatible with existing Microsoft closed formats, in comparison
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to ODF, which was designed with the aim to achieve document interoperability.</p>
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<h3 id="supporting-pre-existing-open-standards">Supporting pre-existing
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Open Standards</h3>
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<p>Whenever applicable and possible, standards should build upon previous
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standardisation efforts and not depend on proprietary, vendor-specific
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technologies. Albeit, MS-OOXML neglects various standards and uses its
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own vendor-specific formats instead. This puts a substantial burden on
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all vendors to fully implement MS-OOXML. It seems questionable how any
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third party could ever implement them equally well, especially when a
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standard comes with 6000 pages of specifications without serving its
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2020-07-17 13:58:04 +00:00
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<a href="/freesoftware/standards/minimalisticstandards.en.html">
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minimalistic</a> purpose.</p>
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2017-01-31 22:22:54 +00:00
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<h3 id="proprietary-extensions">Proprietary extensions</h3>
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<p>Proprietary, application-specific extensions are a known technique
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employed in standardisation by vendors to abuse monopoly. Abusive behaviour
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2020-05-13 18:14:15 +00:00
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was at the core of <a href="/activities/ms-vs-eu/timeline.en.html">
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the decision against Microsoft by the European Commission in 2004</a>.
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For this reason, it is common understanding that Open Standards should not
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allow such proprietary extensions, and that such market-distorting techniques
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should not be possible on the grounds of an Open Standard.</p>
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<h3 id="application-independence">Application independence</h3>
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<p>Standards should not depend on certain operating systems, environments
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or applications, since application and implementation independence is one
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of the most important characteristics of all standards. Nevertheless,
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MS-OOXML includes references to particular Microsoft products.</p>
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<h2 id="conclusion">Conclusion</h2>
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<p>MS-OOXML Strict does not serve its purpose as Open Standard. It was
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deliberately never implemented, to allow its transitional proprietary
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version to gain more ground as a default format for MS Office and to keep
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people locked in to proprietary solutions. <a href="/freesoftware/standards/standards.en.html#what-can-you-do">
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See what you can do about it.</a></p>
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</div>
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</body>
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<sidebar promo="our-work">
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<dynamic-content/>
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<h2>Table of Contents</h2>
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<ul>
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<li>
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<a href="#what-is-microsoft's-ooxml">What is Microsoft's OOXML?</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="#how-did-we-get-there">How did we get there?</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="#is-ms-ooxml-a-true-open-standard">
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Is MS-OOXML a true open standard?
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</a>
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</li>
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<li style="padding-left:10px;">
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<a href="#dual-standards">Dual Standards</a>
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</li>
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<li style="padding-left:10px;">
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<a href="#compatibility-and-interoperability">Compatibility and interoperability</a>
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</li>
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<li style="padding-left:10px;">
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<a href="#supporting-pre-existing-open-standards">Supporting pre-existing Open Standards</a>
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</li>
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<li style="padding-left:10px;">
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<a href="#proprietary-extensions">Proprietary extensions</a>
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</li>
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<li style="padding-left:10px;">
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<a href="#application-independence">Application independence</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="#conclusion">Conclusion</a>
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</li>
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</ul>
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<h2>Further reading</h2>
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<ul>
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<li>
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2020-07-17 13:58:04 +00:00
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<a href="/activities/msooxml/msooxml-interoperability.html">FSFE Context Briefing: Interoperability woes with MS-OOXML
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2016-12-08 12:08:50 +00:00
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</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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2020-07-17 13:58:04 +00:00
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<a href="/activities/msooxml/msooxml-idiosyncrasies.html">FSFE Context Briefing: DIS-29500: Deprecated before use?
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2016-12-08 12:08:50 +00:00
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</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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2020-07-17 13:58:04 +00:00
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<a href="/activities/msooxml/msooxml-questions.html">Six questions to national standardisation bodies
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2016-12-08 12:08:50 +00:00
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</a>
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</li>
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</ul>
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<h2>External links of interest</h2>
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<ul>
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<li>
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<a href="http://www.groklaw.net/articlebasic.php?story=20061208135621706">Article on Groklaw: Novell's "Danaergeschenk"
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</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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2020-07-17 13:58:04 +00:00
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<a href="/activities/msooxml/msooxml-questions-for-ms.html">Article on BBC: Questions for Microsoft on open formats
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2016-12-08 12:08:50 +00:00
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</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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2020-07-17 13:58:04 +00:00
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<a href="/activities/msooxml/msooxml-converter-hoax.html">Article on Heise.de: The converter hoax
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2016-12-08 12:08:50 +00:00
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</a>
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</li>
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</ul>
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</sidebar>
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</html>
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