Moreover, the majority of organizations has closed document circulation, so we’ll never know anything about their documentation. No scientific survey was conveyed to proved that OOXML is more widely used than ODF. The old files still exist in binary formats, but OOXML is catching up quickly. But putting aside the moral aspects of their monopolistic approach, we have to say they were brilliant and also put much time and effort in their document editors.Įven with such alternatives as OpenOffice (back then) and LibreOffice (now), Microsoft Office stays the most popular office suite in the world and the majority of office docs ever created was saved in Microsoft formats.

Note that the word ‘open’ here did not mean being open source because the formats were protected by Microsoft patents. In 2007 Microsoft launched a new version of their Office that by default saved documents in the newly created OOXML (Office Open XML) formats – docx, xlsx, pptx. Even Microsoft tech guys saw that and took the idea. The abbreviation stands for Open Document formats, and the word ‘open’ here reveals their open source nature and that they could be used without restrictions. Luckily, the Jedi knights from open source community created an alternative – new XML-based formats called ODF. They were strictly closed so that Microsoft could maintain a monopoly.

Once all of the office formats were binary. Here’s a quick primer on office software history.

Openoffice vs libreoffice 2018 reddit