IBM, Google quietly supporting OOXML?

In spite of their public opposition to Microsoft's attempt to get the ISO standardization nod for its Office Open XML (OOXML) document format, IBM and Google quietly are supporting OOXML.

That's according to two blog postings from the end of last week by Microsoft execs involved in the OOXML vs. Open Document Format (ODF) standards battle.

In a blog post entitled, "Speaking of odd contradictions ... " Gray Knowlton, Microsoft Group Product Manager of the Office technical product management team, cited IBM's support for OOXML in two products: IBM DB2 Content Manager v8.4 and IBM Websphere Portal. A company spokeswoman said Microsoft also had discovered IBM is supporting OOXML in its IBM Lotus Quickr team-collaboration product, as well as in IBM DB2 9 pureXML.

Office Program Manager Brian Jones, meanwhile, noted that another major ODF proponent, Google, is allowing Google searchers to view OOXML files saved in .docx, .xlsx and .pptx. in the browser using their own rendering technologies.

"They support all three formats, and the results are pretty rich (surprisingly richer than what they provide for ODF files)," Jones blogged.

However, hAI, one commenter on Jones' post, wasn't convinced that Jones' discovery constituted true Google support for OOXML:

"It looks like only XLSX files are supported that way and not DOCX files yet.

"Also it seems that Google search with filetype:docx is still missing a lot of files that I can find workings links to, using Live search contains:docx search parameter.

"Anyways Brain, why does Google support the filetype:docx search parameter whilst your own Live search still does not."

What's your take? Are IBM and Google talking out of both sides of their mouths, when it comes to their "OOXML is evil" claims? Or is Microsoft increasingly grasping at straws, as the late February ISO vote on OOXML standardization inches closer?