Market researchers with the Burton Group have issued a 37-page study--not commissioned by Microsoft or any other tech vendor--that finds <A HREF="http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1107&tag=nl.e622">Microsoft's OOXML document format to be more useful</A> than the rival ODF format backed by Microsoft's competitors. The new study, freely downloadble Burton's Web site is entitled "What's Up, .DOC? ODF, OOXML, and the Revolutionary Implications of XML in Productivity Applications."

Office Open XML (OOXML) is Microsoft's XML file format that it made the default in its Office 2007 suite. Open Document Format (ODF) is the file format championed by Sun Microsystems, IBM, Google and other Microsoft competitors. Microsoft is seeking ISO standards approval for OOXML, largely to appease customers who prefer/require standards-compliant products, as well as to head off ODF momentum, especially in developing nations.