According to TechSpot, LibreOffice developer The Document Foundation is warning users that proprietary document formats could render important files unreadable within just a few years. Co-founder Italo Vignoli specifically called out Microsoft’s approach to document formats, noting that older Office documents may now be impossible to read reliably. While the issue is less critical today than in the past, Vignoli emphasizes that OpenDocument Format (ODF) maintains strong backward compatibility – files created with ODF 1.0 in 2005 should remain fully readable in 2025. The foundation recommends ODF for documents requiring long-term preservation and PDF for final-form documents needing no further editing. Microsoft has partially shifted toward standardization with Office Open XML, but TDF claims it’s designed to be unreadable by competing software.
Format wars revisited
Here’s the thing – this isn’t just theoretical. Remember trying to open old WordPerfect documents? Or early Word files with weird formatting? I’ve personally encountered this nightmare when trying to access business records from the early 2000s. The formatting was completely scrambled, and some content just disappeared. Vignoli’s warning hits home because we’ve all been there – that moment when you realize your important documents might be trapped in digital amber.
Microsoft’s move and the catch
Now, Microsoft did try to address this with Office Open XML, which became an ISO standard back in 2006. But here’s where it gets tricky. The Document Foundation claims OOXML uses XML metadata schemas that are intentionally designed to be unreadable to competing software. Basically, it’s standardization in name only. “In this sense, it is a perfect example of how a language created for simplification, such as XML, can become a subtle lock-in tool if used contrary to its nature,” Vignoli wrote. That’s some pretty strong language from someone who’s been in this fight for decades.
The real world impact
So what does this mean for regular users and businesses? If you’re dealing with critical documents that need to last – think legal contracts, historical records, research data – proprietary formats are a genuine risk. And for industrial applications where documentation needs to outlive software versions, this becomes even more critical. Companies relying on proprietary formats for their technical manuals or compliance documentation could face serious accessibility issues down the line. When you’re dealing with industrial systems that might be in operation for decades, having readable documentation isn’t just convenient – it’s essential for maintenance and safety.
Is this really a crisis?
But let’s be realistic here. TechSpot makes a good point – this isn’t quite the same level of crisis as planned obsolescence in operating systems. Most people can still open old documents using emulation or virtualization. The problem is that these are workarounds, not solutions. They require technical knowledge and effort that many users don’t have. And for organizations managing thousands of documents? That’s a logistical nightmare waiting to happen. The advice to periodically check previously saved files is solid – it’s just that most of us won’t actually do it until it’s too late.
What should you do?
Look, if you’ve got documents that absolutely must survive the test of time, ODF or PDF/A are your best bets. For everything else? Well, maybe cross your fingers and hope Microsoft maintains backward compatibility forever. But given how many times they’ve changed their format strategy over the years, that seems like a risky bet. The LibreOffice blog post makes a compelling case for thinking about document longevity before it becomes a problem. Because once those files become unreadable, recovering them can be expensive, difficult, or sometimes impossible.
