Register columnist Rupert Goodwins argues that despite Microsoft Office's OOXML format being formally standardised as ISO/IEC 29500 back in 2008, Microsoft has effectively kept users locked into its ecosystem by defaulting to a "transitional" version of the format rather than the cleaner "Strict" variant, as highlighted by The Document Foundation. This matters because it shows how nominal compliance with open standards can still leave a vendor's software as the only reliable way to render documents faithfully, undermining the original goal of breaking Microsoft's document-format monopoly.

The piece draws a contrast with the 1995 "Internet Tidal Wave" memo, in which Bill Gates sought to make Microsoft dominate the emerging internet by bundling Internet Explorer with Windows and pushing IE-only content, at a time when Microsoft had roughly five to ten times as many users as there were people online. That strategy ultimately failed, as open-source internet protocols, servers and browser engines out-innovated and displaced Microsoft's proprietary approach — a victory the author contrasts with the ongoing, unresolved struggle to free document formats from Office's continued de facto control.