Open format

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An open format is a published specification for storing digital data, usually maintained by a non-proprietary standards organization, and free of legal restrictions on use. For example, an open format must be implementable by both proprietary and open source software, using the typical licenses used by each. In contrast to open formats, proprietary formats are controlled and defined by private interests. Open formats are a subset of open standards.

The primary goal of open formats is to guarantee long-term access to data without current or future uncertainty with regard to legal rights or technical specification. A common secondary goal of open formats is to enable competition, instead of allowing a vendor's control over a proprietary format to inhibit use of competing products. Governments have increasingly shown an interest in open format issues.

1 Open Source and Open Formats
2 Political developments
3 Examples of open formats
4 See also
5 External links

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Open Source and Open Formats

The relationship between open formats and open source software is frequently misunderstood. Many proprietary software products readily use open formats, and open source software can often use proprietary formats. For example, HTML, the familiar open format markup language of the World Wide Web, creates the foundation for proprietary web browsers like Microsoft's Internet Explorer as well as open source software browsers like Mozilla Firefox. Meanwhile, OpenOffice.org, the open source desktop office application, can manipulate proprietary DOC formats from Microsoft, as well as open formats like OpenDocument. Finally, some companies have published specifications of their formats, making it possible to implement readers or writers for different platforms by different vendors, like Adobe's PDF, or Microsoft's RTF. However, some proprietary formats are covered by some form of restrictive requirements that may forbid open source software implementations (at least under certain licenses common for them, such as the GNU General Public License). According to some critics, such formats inhibit competition.

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Political developments

In the United States, Massachusetts became the first state to specifically address open formats and its importance to public documents. Following a proposed open format standard announced by Eric Kriss, the state's Secretary for Administration and Finance, Massachusetts convened an open format summit on June 9, 2005. Attendees included Secretary Kriss, state CIO Peter Quinn, and representatives of both proprietary and open formats.

On August 31, 2005, Massachusetts released a revised draft of its open format policy that explicitly endorsed the OASIS OpenDocument formats beginning in 2007, the first state to take such action. The implication for software vendors is that their products must support open formats by 2007 or they will be removed from state employee desktops. Microsoft Office, which currently holds a nearly 100% share of office application software on Massachusetts government computers, responded by submitting its Office Open XML (Extensible Markup Language) document format technology to Ecma International, a standards body. The format is co-sponsored by Apple, Barclays Capital, BP, the British Library, Essilor, Intel Corporation, Microsoft, NextPage Inc., Statoil ASA and Toshiba. The next version of Microsoft Office, due next year, will save documents in this format.

Peter Quinn announced his resignation on December 28th 2005, citing the controversy surrounding the open format policy.

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