The Office Open XML (OOXML) document format exists purely because governments demanded it, according to Microsoft, which is hoping the format will become an international standard by the end of this month.

Speaking to ZDNet.com.au last week, Microsoft's public sector lead information worker, Greg Thomas, said the company's pursuit of an international standard rating for its OOXML document format was motivated largely by customer demand from within the public sector.

"A significant amount of public sector customers were asking for it to be made an international standard," said Thomas.

However, John Brand, analyst at research firm Hydrasight, said he doesn’t understand why that would be the case. "In theory there's nothing wrong with using OOXML, but I don't see any great benefit in that format over any other for a government agency."

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Microsoft, OOXML, Open Office, Document, Documents, File Format, Open-Source, Open Source