Kroes is planning to overhaul the European Interoperability Framework (EIF) to make ICT standard-setting more transparent and make sure public administrations use open source formats to prevent a build up of monopolies in the sector.
She criticised the "many authorities" that get locked into proprietary technology for decades, thereby hampering the rise of other market players.
"This is a waste of public money that most public bodies can no longer afford," Kroes said.
The commissioner said the updated EIF would soon be adopted by the European Commission and would be unveiled later this year.
She also hinted that a new framework would include a requirement for standard-setting bodies, like the World Wide Web Consortium and Oasis, to have disclosure rules in order to make it easier for others to use and adapt the technology.
Her words come on the back of an April declaration by EU telecoms ministers, who decided to support the freely-available Open Document Format in eGovernment services (EurActiv 21/04/10).
The decision was widely regarded as an important step towards diluting the market dominance of Microsoft's Office software.
Norway has already implemented ODF as its formal eGovernment standard, with Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands and Sweden not far behind.
'Reticent' high-tech companies
In addition, the commissioner sent a clear warning to IT giants, saying that anti-trust litigation was not how she planned to increase interoperability in the market.
"You no doubt remember that I have some experience with reticent high-tech companies: I had to fight hard and for several years until Microsoft began to license missing interoperability information," the commissioner said.
Thomas Vinje, a lawyer representing some of Microsoft's rivals, Adobe Systems, Corel, IBM, Nokia, Opera, Oracle, RealNetworks, Red Hat and Sun Microsystems, claims the company continues to evade calls to make its standards more transparent.
Microsoft denies any wrongdoing and admits that there is some "internal inconsistency or ambiguity" in its OOXML code, which may result in errors.
The company yesterday welcomed the European Commission's focus on interoperability and the role of open standards in Europe’s Digital Agenda.
The IT giant said it has led initiatives to standardise online services for citizens and public administrations with the launch of its Citizen Service Platform in 2008 (EurActiv 24/01/08).
"We are working closely with the European Commission, standard bodies and with industry towards consistency for all stakeholders in interoperability, technology neutrality in procurement, and more effective standardisation for the benefit of all Europeans," a spokesperson for the firm added.
