Announced March 21, 2006, the Open XML Formats Developer Group was initially founded by 40 organizations from around the world to provide a technical forum for developers who are interested in using the Ecma International-developed Office Open XML file formats. Membership in the community is open to anyone free of charge to enable broad development with the formats, regardless of platform. Below are further details on the community’s goals, developers who are involved in working with the Office Open XML formats, and quotes about the value of the community and the formats.

The Open XML Formats Developer Group was formed as a community for developers to exchange information with each other regarding the usage of the Ecma-developed Office Open XML file formats. The community serves as a technical resource for Open XML developers to submit and answer technical questions and to share tools and ideas around Open XML Formats-based solutions. The Open XML Formats Developer Group is open to anyone free of charge to enable broad participation and development of solutions using the Open XML Formats on any platform. The Open XML Formats Developer Group will support the wide adoption of the specifications being created by Ecma Technical Committee 45.