File format shifts have users worried

摘要

As an industrywide tussle rages over standardized word-processing and spreadsheet formats, end users say the real issues are the costs of reformatting archived documents, support and training, and the possibility that multiple formats could make it difficult to share documents with customers and partners. The issue of standardized formats is coming to a head in the face of compliance and security regulations. Last year it gained lightning-rod status when the commonwealth of Massachusetts recommended that all state documents be migrated by January 2007 to the Open Document Format for Office Applications (ODF), a standard drafted by the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standard.