The Grey Lady on OpenDocument

The Grey Lady speaks on the open standards story. I love the tone of New York Times pieces (this shows up especially in their global reportage) wherein it is assumed that their readers will simply not know what they are talking about, as in this little gem:

"With government records, reports and documents increasingly being created and stored in digital form, there is a software threat to electronic access to government information and archives. The problem is that public information can be locked in proprietary software whose document formats become obsolete or cannot be read by people using software from another company."

Here is the real story: "30 companies, trade groups, academic institutions and professional organizations are announcing today the formation of the OpenDocument Format Alliance, which will promote the adoption of open technology standards by governments."

Keep an eye open for this standard vs. the Microsoft-pushed OpenXML.