Computerworld - No company has invested more time and effort in lobbying against the use of Microsoft Corp.'s new Office Open XML document format than IBM has.
But it turns out that IBM itself is supporting Open XML in a handful of products -- a fact that some Microsoft workers were only too glad to point out in their company blogs this month.
Open XML is the native file format in Office 2007, and Microsoft is seeking to have it accepted as an ISO standard. According to documentation on IBM's Web sites, the company currently supports the format to some degree in at least four products, including its DB2 9 pureXML database.
Gray Knowlton, an Office product manager at Microsoft, said in his blog on Jan. 18 that it was "good to see IBM leading the charge on Open XML adoption." Another blogger at Microsoft wrote, "Welcome to the party, IBM."
IBM didn't respond to a request for comment. But Rob Weir, an IBM developer who is involved in document-format issues, wrote in his personal blog that IBM's support for Open XML is pro forma and generic.
For example, he said that DB2 9 pureXML "supports any well-formed XML document or fragment." Weir added that Microsoft's "desperation in trying to dredge up examples of support" for Open XML was "pitiful."
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