I today read an article on LXer - and it hit the proverbial nail on the head for me regarding the new Microsoft Office "Open" XML File Formats to be included with Office 2007 - and it really is a dangerous concept.

From TFA:

Even more dangerously, the company has named these new formats Microsoft Office Open XML. Note the word “open" here: Microsoft is using a term which hitherto stood in stark opposition to everything the company represents. By employing “open" in this way – however apparently minor or unimportant – it has begun a subtle process of devaluation. All it needs to do is to drop in the word “open" at various points in its product line, and the concept starts to lose the force it currently enjoys, and all the “real" opens – open source, OpenDocument etc. – are diminished as a result. In fact, this process is already underway: Microsoft has announced the “Open Packaging Conventions", which form part of its PDF rival XPS (XML Paper Specification). To add insult to injury, Microsoft hammers home its new passion for “openness" by explaining: 

This sort of thing is really, and I hope that that the general public do try to fight against this sort of thing.

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