Microsoft has shrugged off the UK government's decision to adopt the open document format (ODF) as the file type of choice for sharing and collaborating on official documents.

Furthermore, PDF/A and HTML will also be permissible for government departments and bodies to use when it comes to viewing official documents.

The move was announced by Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude yesterday, who said the adoption of ODF will boost collaboration between government workers and third parties as they will no longer require specialist software to open or work on official documents.

Microsoft believes it is unproven and unclear how UK citizens will benefit from the government's decision.

The expectation is that all government bodies will adopt these measures as time goes on, and deploy free business productivity tools, rather than shell out for proprietary offerings, such as Microsoft Office, that favour the OpenXML format.

As such, it is hoped this will drive down costs within departments, and save third-party organisations that regularly work with the government money for this reason.

"We have listened to those who told us that open standards will reduce their costs and make it easier to work with government," said Maude.

"This is a major step forward for our digital-by-default agenda which is helping save citizens, businesses and taxpayers 1.2 billion over this parliament."