Re: [xml-dev] Results of Open XML balloting at INCITS

[Elliotte Harold <elharo@metalab.unc.edu>]

Michael Kay wrote:

> So the questions are (a) will making OOXML a standard affect the level (or
> duration) of Microsoft's near-monopoly in office software, and 

Yes. It will prolong it and make it larger than it otherwise would be 
were OOXML not to be standardized. (It will still decrease, but decrease 
less with standardization than without.)

> (b) will it
> reduce the costs or increase the compensatory benefits of that monopoly to
> the user community. I certainly can't predict the answers to those
> questions.
> 

No, It won't. Specification of OOXML will accomplish that, but 
standardization will not do more than simple specification would.

-- 
Elliotte Rusty Harold  elharo@metalab.unc.edu
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