OpenOffice may support Microsoft's Office Open XML standard in future, but the organisation behind the open source productivity suite anticipates that everyone including Microsoft will have "difficulty" in making the format work.

The specification for Office Open XML (OOXML, or Open XML), was officially passed as fit-for-purpose by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) on Wednesday, despite many allegations of improper practice in the voting process. It also appears that more than 3,000 technical questions surrounding the format have not been properly addressed, despite its passage through the ISO process.

Barring any formal complaints to ISO by the national standards bodies that are its members, OOXML will now be a rival standard to the OpenDocument Format (ODF), which was ratified by ISO two years ago.

Reaction to the news of OOXML's success was immediate.

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