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Open XML takes next step toward becoming a standard

Filed under
Microsoft

Microsoft 's bid to have its Open XML file format approved as an ISO standard took another step forward Monday when that organization put the measure on a voting ballot sent to its member countries.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) announced that Open XML had moved to the next phase of review by being included on the ISO's 5-month ballot, which was sent out Monday and is due to close Sept. 2. The voting will be followed by an ISO Ballot Resolution meeting.

During the 5-month period, the draft standard is reviewed and can be amended by agreement of the member countries.

Open XML was approved in December by Ecma International, an international membership-based standards organization for information and communication systems, as measure "Ecma-376" and submitted for adoption under the "fast-track process" of a joint technical committee (JTC-1) made up of the ISO and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).

Full Story.

Funny Business

Do not for a second think there was no political manipulation involved. I have been following this thing very closely and here are some stories that the media will rarely bring to your attention.

Packing The Court At The ISO?

,----[ Quote ]
| ...P member countries ('participating member' countries) sending
| representatives, and I am interested to note the majority of
| their representatives are, as individuals, also Microsoft employees.
|
| [...]
|
| How can they not see that OOXML (ECMA 376) is unwanted by anyone outside of
| Microsoft? How about it Brian Jones? Are you really so desperate that you
| have to resort to that?
`----

http://lnxwalt.wordpress.com/2007/03/23/packing-the-court-at-the-iso/

Q&A: Former Mass. CIO feels 'bittersweet pride' after battles with Microsoft,
legislature

,----[ Quote ]
| As CIO of Massachusetts from February to November last year, Louis
| Gutierrez had to endure most of the brunt of Microsoft Corp.'s political
| wrath over a state policy calling for the adoption of the Open Document
| Format for Office Applications, or ODF -- a rival to the software vendor's
| Office Open XML file format.
|
| [...]
|
| Do you see any reason for there to be two standards? If you were
| starting blank-slate, there certainly would not be value to creating
| two separate standards. Over time, it has sometimes been useful to
| have the competition of two standards to keep both sides honest.
| But I don't see particular value in the long-term co-existence of
| two separate standards.
`----

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9012760&source=rss_news50

From the previous CIO....

,----[ Quote ]
| Quinn: Almost to a person, to anybody involved or who knows about
| the ODF issue, they attributed the story to Microsoft, right, wrong
| or otherwise. Senator Pacheco may be a bully but I do not believe he
| is disingenious and would stoop to such a tactic. Senator Pacheco and
| Secretary Galvin's office remain very heavily influenced by the
| Microsoft money and its lobbyist machine, as witnessed by their
| playbook and words, in my opinion.
|
| Quinn: I believe that the ODF decision will stand. I believe MS
| will continue to do anything and everything it can to stop it. And I
| know my seat wasn't even empty and they (MS) took another shot at
| the title, to no avail. This horse is out of the barn and I see no
| way for it to go back in. Remember, all we are asking for was and is
| for Microsoft to commit to open and the standards process; so
| everyone looks really bad if the plug gets pulled at this juncture.
`----

http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20060119232859729

MA Governor-Elect Names MS Anti-ODF Lobbyist to Technology Advisory Group

http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=20061128161343183

The Sorry State of Massachusetts

http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=2006111603531029

Microsoft offers schools in Mass. free software (to stop ODF adoption)

http://news.com.com/2100-7344_3-6090196.html?part=rss&tag=6090196&subj=news

Microsoft plays Massachusetts Senate card

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=32515

Politics and tech companies: follow the money

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061110-8194.html

Years of deadlock on EU patent bring some new thinking

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/08/business/patents.php

,----[ Quote ]
| "A source that deals with the company said unofficially that Gates
| proposed Microsoft's Digital Rights Management technology as a national
| standard to fight piracy at the governmental level."
`----

http://www.kommersant.com/p719683/r_528/

Leaked letter warns of open source 'threat to eco-system'

http://www.techworld.com/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=7109

Study: open source needs official support; Lobbyist disagrees with "flawed"
conclusions
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061017-8011.html

Report Says Nonprofits Sold Influence to Abramoff

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/12/AR2006101200889.html

Open Source Foes In Bed With Abramoff

http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/12/2036223&from=rss

EU official joins consultancy serving Microsoft

http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2006-10-03T134311Z_01_L03693228_RTRIDST_0_TECH-MICROSOFT-OFFICIAL.XML&rpc=66&type=qcna

US ambassador to the EU was former Microsoft lobbyist

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=34706

US politicians go to bat for Microsoft

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/26/microsoft_eu_political_lobbying/

Changing the Report, After the Vote

http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/09/01/commission

Microsoft playing three card monte with XML conversion

,----[ Quote ]
| Gary Edwards of the Open Document Foundation, a leading member
| of its technical committee, says Microsoft is playing proprietary
| games aimed at controlling XML file formats and preventing the
| Open Document Format from gaining a foothold.
`----

http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=959

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