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Microsoft's Secret Anti-ODF Deals

A reader has just sent us the following good pointer.

"Below is a blog entry from ThinkFree," he writes.

"Benedict said,

April 8, 2008 @ 12:43 am

I’m marketing manager Benedict from ThinkFree. Thanks for your suggestion !

We are also considering the ODF support in ThinkFree. By the way, There is one obstacle for solving the problem… That is MS Policy for ODF, Because of interoperability with MS Office in ThinkFree,

We still need the MS cooperation that support OOXML,,, I think you can understand this situation & MS policy strategy… But we plan to solve this political problems, and also We will make the detour. Anyway, We feel your kind mind… Thanks"


Can you see what is happening here?

Our reader adds: "It looks like the hoops to jump through for OOXML include speed bumps for open formats like ODF. Could that a main reason Apple held back for two years on ODF?"

“...it is yet another example of using money or other incentives to stifle ODF.”I personally complained about Apple's lack of support for the international standard (ODF) in public forums and portals in the past. I did this on several occasions only to find that Mac users supported my comments. Eventually, Apple added some ODF support. But the deals between Apple and Microsoft are something that we looked at before (they are similar to Novell's). Those two companies are closer than people realise and more collaborative than Mac users wish to believe.

While the above revelation does not involve Apple directly, it is yet another example of using money or other incentives to stifle ODF. Microsoft has been very systematic about it and a source close to ODF opines that Microsoft will even try to actively intercept ODF 1.2 at ISO.

"There won’t be anything we won’t say to people to try and convince them that our way is the way to go."

--Bill Gates

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