The Case for Open File Formats

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October 12, 2001 (Computerworld) -- Should open, XML-based file formats replace today's proprietary ones? Join the online discussion.

In a perfect world, you'd be able to open any e-mail attachment, read it and make changes, even if you didn't have the program it was created in.

Depending on your perspective, that's either a pipe dream or the least you should expect. I fall into the latter camp.

I believe the cure to all our file-format headaches lies in a technology known as XML. Short for Extensible Markup Language, XML has captured the attention of software makers everywhere, and if they follow through on their stated support for this emerging open standard, our lives will soon be much simpler.

But there's actually a much larger issue at stake, one that few people ever think about. It's a question of ownership.

Look at it this way: The data you put into a spreadsheet is yours. The content you put into a business presentation is yours. It's your intellectual property, right? So why would you allow any of it to be held captive in a proprietary file format?

You should be able to share your content with anyone you choose -- not just those who have the same software program you happen to use.

What's more, you should be able to choose any program you like, at any time, and still have access to all the content you created previously.

Unfortunately, none of these seemingly obvious statements hold true with today's proprietary file formats. It's as if musicians could distribute songs only to people who had the same brand of equipment used in the recording studio.

XML paves the way for a world in which individuals, companies, schools and government agencies will have complete control of the data contained in the documents they create. With XML, they won't be beholden to a single program -- or a specific version of that program -- to share information with any other individual or organization.

Today, moving content from one application to another generally involves file filters and translation software that need to be updated frequently (and even then may not work right). There are even compatibility issues among different versions of an application created by a single company.

If ever there was a need for an open standard, it's in file formats. And XML fits the bill. It will enable us to concentrate on what's really valuable about any document -- the content you've created, not the program you used. XML even holds the promise of device independence. It won't matter how you access your data -- on a wireless handset, an airport kiosk, a projector in a conference room or an old-fashioned desktop PC. With XML as a standardized format, you will be free to use whatever device is most convenient at the time.

What's more, XML will open up some interesting possibilities for document automation. As the standard matures, it will be possible to have XML database repositories containing chunks of content that can be assembled, formatted and processed automatically to create customized form letters, bids, legal contracts, technical manuals and specifications, CAD drawings, blueprints -- you name it. You create the content, the formatting and the graphics once and reuse them time and time again.

Another advantage: XML is being so clearly and openly delineated that the content of such documents should be readable even 50 years from now. (The file formats for Sun's new XML-based office productivity suite, for example, are detailed in a 400-page specification.) But for today's undocumented, proprietary formats, no one can make the same kind of projection with any confidence -- not even for the next five years.

The good news is that many companies are now talking about XML as the lingua franca of the network age. Let's all hold them to it.

Scott McNealy is CEO of Sun Microsystems Inc.

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