The announcement Microsoft  Corp. made last week that it would increase the amount of interoperability and openness in its file formats, comes just days before the last-but-one vote on whether  Open XML -- the format it created for Office -- will be approved as standard.

Microsoft said Feb 21 that it would adhere to a set of new interoperability principles designed to increase the openness of its high-volume products and drive greater interoperability.

Microsoft lost a ratification vote last September, amid allegations that it was stuffing the ballot boxes and that it wasn't playing fair in either the vote or the market. Its new interoperability play is widely seen as a move to try to prevent the file format from suffering the same fate this time around.