Nations Question ISO's Merit Following Dropped OOXML Appeals

Countries whose appeals were dismissed regarding the ISO/IEC's approval of Microsoft's OOXML as an international standard are questioning the judgment and relevance of the ISO/IEC and the standards they approve.
In a statement made at the Congresso Internacional Sociedade e Governo Electronico (CONSEGI) 2008 conference, representatives from three of the four countries that appealed against an April 1 vote to approve OOXML as a standard -- Brazil, South Africa and Venezuela -- said they are "no longer confident" in the ability of both the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) to be vendor-neutral and open when it comes to setting technology standards.
"What is now clear is that we will have to, albeit reluctantly, re-evaluate our assessment of ISO/IEC, particularly in its relevance to our various national government interoperability frameworks," according to the statement by the countries, which also included Ecuador, Cuba and Paraguay. "Whereas in the past it has been assumed that an ISO/IEC standard should automatically be considered for use within government, clearly this position no longer stands."
The statement was posted on the blog of Aslam Raffee, the chairperson of the South African government's Open Source Software Working Group. CONSEGI is a South and Latin American government open-source conference; it was held this year in Brasilia, Brazil.
Despite their concerns, however, the countries will not pursue their appeals against the decision by the organizations to move forward with the publication of ISO/IEC DIS 29500 -- the name for the current OOXML specification -- as an international standard.
Earlier this month, the ISO/IEC gave the green light to publish the current OOXML specification after organization leaders rejected appeals from Brazil, India, South Africa and Venezuela to protest the vote that approved OOXML as a standard.
The specification is expected to be published within the next few weeks after the standards bodies complete the final processing of the document, provided there are no further appeals against the decision.
Ironically, it's developing countries like the ones that protested the vote that Microsoft was courting when it submitted OOXML to Ecma International, another standards body, in November 2005 in an effort to fast-track it through the ISO's standard-approvals process.
Microsoft created OOXML as an XML-based document format for Office 2007, the latest version of its productivity suite. Office and Microsoft's Windows OS face competition from open-source and open standards-based software in developing countries, where it is often more cost-effective to use alternatives to proprietary software.
At the same time, governments in those countries as well as in more mainstream markets increasingly are drafting mandates requiring IT departments to use only software based on open-standard formats. Prior to becoming approved as an open standard, OOXML's use in Office would preclude that suite from being on the list of acceptable technologies for many of these mandates.
When Microsoft submitted OOXML to Ecma, another XML-based document format, ODF (Open Document Format), was midway through the ISO standards process. The ISO approved ODF as an international standard more than two years ago.
The OOXML fast-track process and subsequent approval vote in the ISO was riddled with complaints that Microsoft acted unscrupulously, the standards process was not implemented properly and the specification approved was too unwieldy to implement। As a result, the national bodies of Brazil, India, South Africa and Venezuela filed protests.
Reference : http://www.pcworld.com/article/150577/.html?tk=rss_news

Microsoft's OOXML Wins ISO Approval

Office 2007's XML-based document formats will soon be published as a formal ISO standard। Now what?

It looks as if Microsoft's OOXML office document file format will be published as an open standard after all. The International Standards Organization (ISO) today rejected four appeals from subsidiary national standards bodies that claimed ballot irregularities during the standardization process. Had these appeals been upheld, an OOXML standard could have been delayed indefinitely, despite Microsoft's best efforts to fast-track the process.
Barring any further hold-ups, ISO is expected to publish the full text of the standard within the next few weeks. But as the dust clears, many IT managers and office software users will likely be left scratching their heads: What does an open standard office file format from Microsoft actually get us?
A competing set of file formats, called ODF (Open Document Format), was accepted as an ISO standard more than two years ago. ODF is already in use in a number of competing office software products, including OpenOffice.org, AbiWord, and IBM's Lotus Symphony. Its success in the face of Microsoft's protracted effort to produce its own standard even recently prompted Microsoft employee Stuart McKee to remark, "ODF has clearly won [the standards battle]."
Indeed, Microsoft's failure to participate in the ODF standardization process has caused some to interpret the software giant's efforts to pursue its own, competing standard as little more than an attempt to undermine ODF. For its part, Microsoft has recently stated that it will include ODF support in a future update of Office 2007 -- but, interestingly, it will not actually include support for the ISO standardized versions of its own file formats until some future release of the suite.
According to Andy Updegrove of technology law firm Gesmer Updegrove, the rejection of the appeals against OOXML standardization is business as usual for the ISO process. "Today's announcement is not unexpected. It will be significant to learn, however, what the actual votes may have been," he says.
If there were many votes cast in support of the appeals, it may be evidence that ISO's processes may be skewed in favor of the interests of large corporations, such as Microsoft, rather than those of its member countries. "The greater the support, the more urgent it will be for ISO and IEC to reform their processes in order to remain credible and relevant to the IT marketplace," Updegrove says.
Just how much impact an ISO-approved OOXML will actually have on the IT marketplace -- or on users of office software -- remains to be seen. On the plus side, an approved standard should make it easier for competitors, including open source software projects, to interoperate with Microsoft Office, which has been difficult in the past. On the minus side, the proliferation of overlapping standards could serve to further muddy the marketplace, making bewildered customers much more likely to stick to the status quo.
Do you see Microsoft's move toward standardized file formats as positive or negative for your business? Sound off in the PC World Community Forums।
Reference : http://www.pcworld.com/article/149895/microsoft's_ooxml_wins_iso_approval.html?tk=rss_news

Microsoft's OOXML Wins ISO Approval

It looks as if Microsoft's OOXML office document file format will be published as an open standard after all. The International Standards Organization (ISO) today rejected four appeals from subsidiary national standards bodies that claimed ballot irregularities during the standardization process. Had these appeals been upheld, an OOXML standard could have been delayed indefinitely, despite Microsoft's best efforts to fast-track the process.
Barring any further hold-ups, ISO is expected to publish the full text of the standard within the next few weeks. But as the dust clears, many IT managers and office software users will likely be left scratching their heads: What does an open standard office file format from Microsoft actually get us?
A competing set of file formats, called ODF (Open Document Format), was accepted as an ISO standard more than two years ago. ODF is already in use in a number of competing office software products, including OpenOffice.org, AbiWord, and IBM's Lotus Symphony. Its success in the face of Microsoft's protracted effort to produce its own standard even recently prompted Microsoft employee Stuart McKee to remark, "ODF has clearly won [the standards battle]."
Indeed, Microsoft's failure to participate in the ODF standardization process has caused some to interpret the software giant's efforts to pursue its own, competing standard as little more than an attempt to undermine ODF. For its part, Microsoft has recently stated that it will include ODF support in a future update of Office 2007 -- but, interestingly, it will not actually include support for the ISO standardized versions of its own file formats until some future release of the suite.
According to Andy Updegrove of technology law firm Gesmer Updegrove, the rejection of the appeals against OOXML standardization is business as usual for the ISO process. "Today's announcement is not unexpected. It will be significant to learn, however, what the actual votes may have been," he says.
If there were many votes cast in support of the appeals, it may be evidence that ISO's processes may be skewed in favor of the interests of large corporations, such as Microsoft, rather than those of its member countries. "The greater the support, the more urgent it will be for ISO and IEC to reform their processes in order to remain credible and relevant to the IT marketplace," Updegrove says.
Just how much impact an ISO-approved OOXML will actually have on the IT marketplace -- or on users of office software -- remains to be seen. On the plus side, an approved standard should make it easier for competitors, including open source software projects, to interoperate with Microsoft Office, which has been difficult in the past. On the minus side, the proliferation of overlapping standards could serve to further muddy the marketplace, making bewildered customers much more likely to stick to the status quo.
Do you see Microsoft's move toward standardized file formats as positive or negative for your business? Sound off in the PC World Community Forums।
Reference : http://www.pcworld.com/article/149895/2008/08/.html?tk=rss_news

ISO, IEC Reject Appeals, Approve OOXML Spec

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) have given the green light to publish the Microsoft-backed Office Open XML (OOXML) specification after organization leaders rejected appeals from four countries to protest the vote that approved OOXML as a standard.
The ISO and IEC technical boards approved the publication of ISO/IEC DIS 29500, the official name for the OOXML specification, the ISO said Friday. The spec is expected to be published within the next few weeks after the standards bodies complete the final processing of the document, provided there are no further appeals against the decision.
According to an ISO press statement, appeals by the national bodies of Brazil, India, South Africa and Venezuela did not garner support from two-thirds of the members of the ISO Technical Management Board and IEC Standardization Management Board, which is required by ISO/IEC rules to keep the appeals process alive.
However, those countries could still bring their appeals to the executive councils of the ISO and IEC for review and processing, which could stall the publication of the OOXML spec.
Last month the leaders of the ISO and the IEC recommended the rejection of the four countries' appeals. Reasons for filing the appeals included alleged violations associated with a ballot resolution meeting in February that eventually led to the final vote on April 1 to approve OOXML as an international standard.
Microsoft submitted OOXML to Ecma International, another standards body, in November 2005 in an effort to fast-track it through the ISO while another XML-based document format, Open Document Format (ODF), was midway through the ISO standards process. The ISO approved ODF as an international standard more than two years ago.
The OOXML fast-track process and subsequent approval vote was riddled with complaints that Microsoft acted unscrupulously, the standards process was not implemented properly and the specification approved was too unwieldy to implement। As a result, the national bodies of Brazil, India, South Africa and Venezuela protested the April vote.
Reference : http://www.pcworld.com/article/149859/2008/08/.html?tk=rss_news