Microsoft's XML-based office document format, OOXML, does not meet the requirements for governmental use, according to a new report published by the Norwegian Agency for Public Management and eGovernment (DIFI).

The Danish Parliament has decided on a set of rules to which open document formats must adhere if they are to be used by state authorities after April 1, 2011, Denmark's Liberal Party said on Friday.

A German organization plans to build a tool to help developers test whether software they're developing can support documents compatible with the latest version of the Open Office XML (OOXML) standard.

As expected, Microsoft on Tuesday began letting users of Office 2007 download Service Pack 2, marking a milestone in the company's document format battles with governments and other vendors.

Microsoft on Wednesday unveiled a free plug-in for Firefox to translate Open XML documents, an update to its document translator and a toolkit for Java developers that was built under the umbrella of its Document Interoperability Initiative.

Thirteen members of Norway's International Standards Organisation (ISO) body, Standard Norway, have resigned over the country's approval for the controversial Microsoft OOXML document format.

IBM is threatening to leave organizations that set standards for software interoperability because of concerns that their processes are not always fair.