ISO mutiny over OOXML fast-track
Submitted by _indonesia on Tue, 2008-10-14 08:00.
A decision to dismiss appeals against the controversial fast-track approval of Microsoft Office Open XMLi format has provoked six members of the global standards-setting body ISOi to question its relevance.
Brazil, India, South Africa and Venezuela - countries with fast-growing IT markets - had appealed against ISO's stamp of approval OOXML, an endorsement likely to help the software giant win more public-sector contracts.
A significant minority of national standards bodies had voted against approving the Microsoft format, which is an alternative to the open-source Open Document Format that has been a published ISO standard since 2006.
But ISO, together with the International Electrotechnical Commission, decided earlier this month that those appeals were not worth pursuing - meaning OOXML will soon become an ISO standard, provided no new appeals are lodged.
Microsoft lost a first vote on OOXML but won a second vote after a week-long ballot resolution meeting to discuss the 6,000-page specifications.
Many public bodies prefer to keep documents in formats whose specifications are owned by ISO, to avoid the risk that they will be unable to access their own archives - or have to pay to do so - in the future.
ISO is a non-governmental organisation made up of the national standards bodies of 157 countries. It sprang up in the 1940s in response to demand for standard specifications for materials needed to rebuild the infrastructure of war-shattered countries.
Source from PC PRO September 2008
Brazil, India, South Africa and Venezuela - countries with fast-growing IT markets - had appealed against ISO's stamp of approval OOXML, an endorsement likely to help the software giant win more public-sector contracts.
A significant minority of national standards bodies had voted against approving the Microsoft format, which is an alternative to the open-source Open Document Format that has been a published ISO standard since 2006.
But ISO, together with the International Electrotechnical Commission, decided earlier this month that those appeals were not worth pursuing - meaning OOXML will soon become an ISO standard, provided no new appeals are lodged.
Microsoft lost a first vote on OOXML but won a second vote after a week-long ballot resolution meeting to discuss the 6,000-page specifications.
Many public bodies prefer to keep documents in formats whose specifications are owned by ISO, to avoid the risk that they will be unable to access their own archives - or have to pay to do so - in the future.
ISO is a non-governmental organisation made up of the national standards bodies of 157 countries. It sprang up in the 1940s in response to demand for standard specifications for materials needed to rebuild the infrastructure of war-shattered countries.
Source from PC PRO September 2008
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