[antiRepublicrat]

Wouldn't want to use document formats that are used by the vast majority of the world users.

Yes you do. Most users in the world can read various open document formats. For the U.S., we don't want to get locked into the whims of one company, allowing that one company too much leverage over the government and the people. For international users, they don't want to be beholden to a U.S. company. They want to retain a bit of sovereignty.

[Bush2000]

Yes you do. Most users in the world can read various open document formats. For the U.S., we don't want to get locked into the whims of one company, allowing that one company too much leverage over the government and the people. For international users, they don't want to be beholden to a U.S. company. They want to retain a bit of sovereignty.

And as TheEngineer pointed out, there are free readers available for reading the most popular document formats in the world -- plus, there is free software for generating those same formats. This is a case where standardization is good for everybody (consumers and business included). So your protests are limp-wristed, at best.