As we
reported this week, European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes recently took a very tough stance in calling for governments throughout Europe to use open source software and adopt open standards. Kroes is the European Union's top antitrust official, and her comments were largely interpreted as a jab at Microsoft. (The EU has recently levied the largest fines in its history against the Redmond giant.) Now, the ODF Alliance--the organization that backs Open Document Format--is applauding Kroes' comments. The ODF Alliance's position isn't exactly a surprise, but it's another step in what is becoming a coordinated march.