> I am ABSOLUTELY claiming that Oh well, I disagree with you on that then. However, irrespective of how we feel it could have turned out, the fact remains that

> I am ABSOLUTELY claiming that Oh well, I disagree with you on that then. However, irrespective of how we feel it could have turned out, the fact remains that Microsoft deliberately pushed for standardization of a document format which at the time of standardization did not have a complete reference implementation even by Microsoft itself !! They could have simply adopted the ODF format (still can if then want to) but chose not to. The funny thing about this discussion is, seeing things a different way, it is me who is saying MS had the foresight/business acumen to see how a standard they control can lead to lock in/dependence of their platform and you're dismissing that with claiming their reasoning was a simplistic 'ah, nobody will pay us for that, why bother'. In any case, my initial (and I suspect the OPs) assertion is valid -- MS has had a long dirty history. I am not opposed to giving them the benefit of doubt but it is way too little, and way too early to do this right now.