(Okay, so this is from a while ago, but my mother just sent me the link and I’m in a ranty mood, having been working with Java all weekend)
The National Archive is teaming up with Microsoft to preserve their data. According to Gordon Frazer, Managing Director UK and Vice President Microsoft International (obviously a trustworthy and impartial source of information):
"Microsoft took the step to implement XML-based file formats that unlock data in documents, allowing them to be archived, restructured, aggregated and re-used in new and dynamic ways. As a result, the latest releases of Office use open-standard file formats - Open XML."
The word I’m think of rhymes with "Jackson Pollocks".
Microsoft only "took the step to implement XML-based file formats" because the OpenDocument Group were already doing it, and Microsoft didn’t want a standard document format that they didn’t invent. It only "unlock[s] data in documents" relative to Microsoft’s old formats—it’s no better than many other open formats in that regard. Finally, Microsoft Office OpenXML isn’t an open standard—it’s not actually a standard even now, as far as I know, so it certainly wasn’t last July when the announcement was made. It’s barely even open, since the specification has various undocumented parts that are there for Microsoft to make use of, without actually telling anybody what the massive chunk of binary data is for. It’s also, as I’ve complained about previously, very Microsoft-centric, in that it basically standardises "features" like Excel’s treatment of 1900 as a leap year.
Adam Farquhar, Head of eArchitecture (is that a word? I didn’t expect the National Archive to be making up new words by adding "e" to the beginning) at the British Library and co-chair of the Office OpenXML standards committee (oh, what a coincidence) said:
"Microsoft has shown considerable initiative working with The National Archives…"
Again, bollocks. They’re not doing it out of the goodness of their heart—at the very least, it’s publicity, and a monopoly over a major source of data; it’s probably also extremely lucrative for them.