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The Dutch parliament is considering mandating the use of the Open Document Format (ODF) across the entire Dutch government and unsurprisingly Microsoft lobbyists are on the case:
On Wednesday the Dutch parliament will discuss a plan to mandate use of the Open Document Format (ODF) at government agencies. The proposal is part of a wider plan to increase the sustainability of information and innovation, while lowering costs through the reuse of data.
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Microsoft Netherlands has engaged in fierce lobbying in an attempt to derail the plan. The company argues that the current definition is too narrow, specifically by mandating ODF rather than open standards in general.
The local OpenDoc Society says that Microsoft is unnecessarily upset since the availability of ODF plug-ins would allow Microsoft Office be used. We’ve heard that one before, but clearly it is an non-optimal alternative for Microsoft since they would much prefer that their Office Open XML (OOXML) be considered an open standard.
