OpenDocument too slow, claims Microsoft

General manager of Microsoft's information worker strategy, Alan Yates told ZDNet that OpenDocument documents were so slow that they were practically unusable. He claimed that the Open XML format is built for speed and punters should notice a big difference in performance.

Yates was basing his information on a study that compared OpenOffice.org 2.0 with the XML formats in Microsoft Office 2003. However, the managing director of the OpenDocument Format Alliance, Marino Marcich, has cried 'foul'.

He said that there is no Open XML product on the market yet, with which to compare performance. OpenOffice.org was not initially optimized for ODF, but will be in the future, he pointed out.

The two men then muttered about the size of each other's documentation. Microsoft said that its 4000 pages of documentation indicated the XML standard could do more, while the ODF said that its 700 pages indicated OpenDocument was easier to accommodate.

Those that are really interested are invited to go here. Or here. µ