IBM and Sun hit back on Microsoft’s Office bid

After Microsoft seemed to be winning over Massachusetts Governor Romney in the row over Open Documents standards, we hear that IBM is urging the state to stand firm by its original decision to freeze Microsoft out.

In a letter to the state of Massachusetts Secretary of Executive Agency Finance and Administration, Thomas Trimarco, IBM has criticized Microsoft’s attempt to further the cause of its Office Open XML as a standard for the state’s documents.

Axcess News comments :

IBM’s Robert Sutor argued that “anyone can get the OpenDocument Format (ODF), that it is is already in the International Organization for Standardization fast track process.”

IBM believes that many international governments will be adopting the ODF standard, but Gov. Romney supported Microsoft’s Office Open XML as a standard because the Redmond software company said it was submitting its format for International Standardization.

In a parallel move, Carl Cargill, Sun Microsystems’ Director of Standards also supported the ODF proposal in a letter to Trimarco.