A couple of days ago, we reported that the developer of LibreOffice, The Document Foundation (TDF), has protested the European Commission"s (EC) use of Microsoft"s Excel (XLSX) format to collect feedback from the public about the new Cyber Resilience Act (CRA). It seems like TDF"s complaints have bore fruit, as the EC has now published the same feedback form in an open format too.
Among the goals of CRA is to adopt open standards, reduce vendor lock-in, and decrease dependencies on "unaccountable" technology. This is why TDF thought that it was quite ironic that the EC had opted to leverage Microsoft"s proprietary OOXML format in its own document. Following complaints from the foundation, DG Connect, the body behind the CRA, added the template in ODS format within 24 hours.
This move has been hailed by TDF as a win for interoperability and open standards, which has also noted that:
To all those individuals who insist on considering OOXML a standard because it has been approved by ISO, and to all software that supports OOXML by using it as the default format, we remind you that you are going against not only your own interests but also the interests of all citizens of the world, and first and foremost European citizens.
Now that its demand has been met, TDF is actively encouraging members of the European public to fill out the feedback form in ODS format.
This is not the first time that TDF has campaigned against Microsoft and its proprietary Office standards. In just the past month or so, the organization has blasted Microsoft for prioritizing "commercial interests" over everything else, criticized "fake open source" vendor OnlyOffice for being in the cahoots with the Redmond firm, and emphasized how the UI of LibreOffice is so much better than Microsoft"s Office suite. Microsoft, for its part, rarely responds to TDF"s complaints, so it remains to be seen what the latter will do next to try and ruffle the feathers of its giant competitor.