Microsoft has trouble with OpenDocument standards

AT LEAST SEVEN countries have submitted formal objections to Microsoft's Open XML becoming an international standard.

According to PCWorld, this means that it will be nearly impossible for the Vole to get an ISO blessing for its alternative to the open source Open Document Format at the speed it would like.

The Vole is attempting to fast track the adoption of Open XML as an ISO standard because it needs to have something heavyweight to counter ODF before it kills off the defacto "Office" standard.

The Open Document Format became an ISO standard last year and is the default format of open source Office competitors such as OpenOffice and StarOffice, which some believe threaten take up of Microsoft's new Office 2007 suite. µ