Add as a preferred source on Google


News

U.K. Endorses OpenDocument Format

The United Kingdom is the latest government to express support for the OpenDocument Format standard, which competes with Microsoft's Extensible Markup Language-based format (XML).

ODF is a set of formats for office documents that has been approved by the International Organization for Standardization. Seventeen national and eight provincial governments worldwide have endorsed ODF for document exchange. Use of the standard is mandatory in the Netherlands.

The U.K. government is requiring compliance with open standards when feasible. It will work to ensure that government information is available in open formats and make open formats a required standard for government Web sites under its "Open Source, Open Standards and Re-Use: Government Action Plan."

More than 50 word processing, spreadsheet and presentation applications now support ODF. The standard has also expanded to incorporate mobile devices, Web conferencing applications, document management systems, wiki editors, viewers, converters, accessibility tools, database software and programming libraries, according to the OpenDocument Format Alliance. As of December 2008, the alliance included 584 member organizations in 63 countries.

For a comprehensive list and description of government policy initiatives that endorse ODF, click here.

Featured

  • Microsoft Dismantles RedVDS Cybercrime Marketplace Linked to $40M in Phishing Fraud

    In a coordinated action spanning the United States and the United Kingdom, Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) and international law enforcement collaborators have taken down RedVDS, a subscription based cybercrime platform tied to an estimated $40 million in fraud losses in the U.S. since March 2025.

  • Sound Wave Illustration

    CrowdStrike's Acquisition of SGNL Aims to Strengthen Identity Security

    CrowdStrike signs definitive agreement to purchase SGNL, an identity security specialist, in a deal valued at about $740 million.

  • Microsoft Acquires Osmos, Automating Data Engineering inside Fabric

    In a strategic move to reduce time-consuming manual data preparation, Microsoft has acquired Seattle-based startup Osmos, specializing in agentic AI for data engineering.

  • Linux Foundation Unites Major Tech Firms to Launch Agentic AI Foundation

    The Linux Foundation today announced the creation of a new collaborative initiative — the Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF) — bringing together major AI and cloud players such as Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic and other major tech companies.

Most   Popular