European Commission pressured to pull Microsoft Office from UK schools

by Stevie Smith - May 14 2008, 11:34

Contentious issues with interoperability (or rather the lack thereof) have hung like a millstone around Microsoft’s software neck for quite some time, and yet another has added to the gathering weight this week after a UK government agency called for Microsoft Office to be kicked from the country’s school system.

Microsoft back in the interoperability firing line. Image: Microsoft.

Specifically, the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (BECTA) has complained to the European Commission that the Microsoft Office software suite limits user choice by failing to deliver effective support for the Open Document Format (ODF), while offering much easier access to its own OOXML open standard instead.According to a statement released by BECTA executive director Stephen Lucey, the lack of interoperability (which is the ability for diverse systems and applications to work together) imposed by Microsoft Office reaches beyond solely affecting rival software makers. Lucey claims that Microsoft’s barriers are also potentially damaging “the interests of education and training organisations, learners, teachers and parents.”In response to BECTA’s complaint notification, a spokesman for the European Commission said it is already looking into the matter in relation to an interoperability investigation it launched in January of this year. That investigation has been formed to gauge whether Microsoft pressured the International Standards Association into allowing its own open standard to exist alongside that of Sun Microsystems’ recognised ODF.BECTA’s complaint to the commission comes after it dispatched the same Microsoft Office grievance to the UK Office of Fair Trading at the tail end of 2007.Redmond-based Microsoft, in its own statement on the matter, maintained that it was “deeply committed” to software interoperability, and that it has funded the development of tools to promote smooth working relationships between its Office 2007 suite and other non-Microsoft products via the ODF format.However, that’s not a view that Lucey agrees with, offering that Microsoft Office makes it more difficult for non-technical users to take full advantage of ODF. Lucey notes that Microsoft’s ODF converters deliver “limited functionality” and are “poorly integrated” into the overall Office interface, which is something not evident when approaching Microsoft’s own OOXML open format alternative.A negative outcome from the investigation could see Microsoft hit with yet another expensive penalty by the European Commission. The software company is presently appealing an 899 million euro fine slapped on it by the commission for failing to bow to interoperability requirement related to server-based software set in 2004.

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Le ChiffreMay 14th, 2008 - 12:50:05

LAME

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Bob ScanlonMay 15th, 2008 - 07:12:53

Any news such as this always attracts the same tired response from Microsoft: 'We are DEEPLY COMMITTED to software interoperability ... etc. etc.' Microsoft's commitment to software interoperability is shallow and disingenuous. The company's inaction towards software interoperability secures the exclusion of competitors from the desktop.
Microsoft, if you are listening, hear this: I want to natively save a word document in ODF format because I choose not to save files in your OOXML format, because I distrust you deeply. I remember what you did with RTF to dishonestly castrate WordPerfect in the 1990s leaving its users punished and stranded. I wont let you orphan my own files again.

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European Commission pressured to pull Microsoft Office from UK schools

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