Standards body Ecma International has created a committee to standardize Microsoft Office document formats

The move, already anticipated, is the latest volley in a match being fought in standards bodies, state governments and blogs. At stake is whether Microsoft office 2007 can retain its current level of dominance in productivity applications, a source of billions of profit dollars for the company.

Microsoft's desktop application hegemony is being challenged by a standard, called OpenDocument. Products that used OpenDocument are only now coming onto the market and are used far less than Office. But many Microsoft rivals, including IBM, Sun Microsystems and Google, are leveraging their collective weight behind OpenDocument.

"Companies have been unsuccessful at competing (against) Microsoft Office for at least 10 years with other products," said Gartner analyst Michael Silver. "Now they are trying to use the file format as a wedge issue to try to unlock Microsoft's hold."

The rival OpenDocument format rose in prominence earlier this year when the Commonwealth of Massachusetts passed a policy--now being reviewed--that mandated the use of OpenDocument for storing documents generated in executive-branch state agencies.

The debate over the state's productivity application standards will continue Wednesday at a state senate hearing at the State House in Boston. The forum will be hosted by the Senate committee on economic development and emerging technologies and the state's science and technology caucus.

Although its millions of desktop computers make the state of Massachusetts a sizable customer for any provider, the fate of its OpenDocument policy has taken on greater significance. It has become something of landmark issue, attracting a flurry of open letters from lobbying groups and industry executives with a vested interest.

Sun CEO Scott McNealy wrote to Massachusetts officials earlier this year: "We feel that requiring the use of an office document format, OpenDocument 1.0, which is standardized by a public process, completely free of legal encumbrances, already implemented in multiple products, not controlled by any one vendor, and on its way to being an ISO standard is enlightened and will pay long-term benefits to the citizens of Massachusetts."

Another indication of the importance of the case is the planned attendance of Alan Yates, the general manager of Microsoft's Information Worker division, who has led its standardization efforts. Bob Sutor, IBM's vice president of Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007, and Sun's Bob Sproull, a Sun fellow and vice president of Sun Labs in Massachusetts, are also on the agenda.