Microsoft Office Format A Open Standard?

Microsoft in an effort to fight off OpenOffice's format being adapted by a lot of organizations and countries, has attempt to create an open version of their file formats and submit it to ECMA. “Additional standards give you more choice over a period of time,” Alan Yates, general manager, business strategy with Microsoft’s information worker group, said Wednesday. “Governments should be open to both [Open XML and OpenDocument] and whatever else is rolling down the street. Choosing both is really wise.” Yes, it's so wise that really, I wish everyone uses two different versions of HTTP, TCP/IP, SMTP, SSL, etc. Besides, As Andrew Tanenbaum once said, "Standards are great because you have so many to choose from."