How proprietary formats have become Microsoft’s main tool for lock-in
This article examines how Microsoft uses proprietary file formats like DOCX and XLSX to create user dependency and lock-in. It argues that these formats prioritize corporate control over open standards, effectively tethering users to the Microsoft ecosystem.
Why it matters
Understanding proprietary formats is crucial for digital sovereignty and ensuring that data remains accessible and portable across different software platforms.
In the previous article , we explored the importance of standards: how the unspoken agreements governing electrical sockets, paper sizes and file formats form the foundations of a world in which choices remain open and power is not concentrated in the hands of a single player. We concluded with a question: if open standards are so beneficial, why aren’t they universally adopted?
The answer, in the case of document formats, lies in a single page produced by Microsoft Office. Getting rid of it is harder than it seems.
When you save a document on your computer, you are choosing a format — that is, the language in which your document is written in a way that the computer can understand: the set of rules that determines how words, tables, images and formatting instructions are stored and, consequently, how they can be retrieved, shared and read in the future.
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