Microsoft fails in Open XML ISO bid
No official announcement regarding the ISO vote has been made, but according to the Wall Street Journal ‘Open XML needed to meet two criteria; it missed both — albeit narrowly in one case.’
Microsoft however downplayed the ISO vote, releasing a press statement titled “Strong Global Support for Open XML as It Enters Final Phase of ISO Standards Process”, saying that “Significant participation by National Bodies in ISO/IEC ratification process for Open XML; final decision expected in March 2008 at close of ballot resolution period.”
The Microsoft press release reads “Today the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) released the results of the preliminary ballot to participating National Body members for the ISO/IEC DIS 29500 (Ecma 376 Office Open XML file formats) ratification process.”
“The results show that 51 ISO members, representing 74 percent of all qualified votes, stated their support for ratification of Open XML. Along with their votes, the National Bodies also provided invaluable technical comments designed to improve the specification. Many of the remaining ISO members stated that they will support Open XML after their comments are addressed during the final phase of the process, which is expected to close in March 2008.”
With at least 87 countries taking part in some way, the Open XML review represents an unprecedented level of participation in the standardization of a document format.
Microsoft pointed out that “fifty-one ISO members voicing support at this preliminary stage of the process compares favorably with the 32 ISO members supporting Open Document Format (ODF) 1.0 at the end of its process and the 15 ISO members supporting PDF/A-1 at the end of its process.”
“This widespread participation and support is consistent with the rapid adoption of the Ecma Office Open XML file formats across multiple platforms and products from a wide range of IT vendors (including Apple, Novell, Corel, Sun, Microsoft, Java developers and Linux distributors), creating real value for IT users around the globe.”
“We are extremely delighted to see that 51 ISO members, representing 74 percent of the qualified votes, have already voiced their support for ISO ratification of Open XML, and that many others have indicated they will support ratification once their comments are resolved in the next phase of the ISO process,” said Tom Robertson, general manager for Interoperability and Standards at Microsoft Corp.
“This preliminary vote is a milestone for the widespread adoption of the Open XML formats around the world for the benefit of millions of customers. Given how encouraging today’s results were, we believe that the final tally in early 2008 will result in the ratification of Open XML as an ISO standard.”
Loading ...