India and Brazil joined South Africa and filed last-minute appeals with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) regarding the adoption of Microsoft’s interchangeable Web documents format Office Open XML (OOXML) as an international standard.
In a letter, members of a Brazilian technical committee said the process that led to OOXML’s ISO ratification was flawed, in part because not all participants were given enough time to make their views heard. South Africa and India filed similar protests this week.
Brazil’s objections fall under two main headings, the second of which was also raised by South Africa. That objection relates to the fact that the reconciliation draft of DIS 29500 that was delivered to ISO on March 29 still has not been released, even to the National Bodies. Despite the fact that this release has been requested by many different parties representing multiple viewpoints, no public or private explanation has thus far been given for the failure to follow rules calling for the releasee of the draft within 30 days of the close of the BRM.
Microsoft officials have said OOXML’s ISO ratification makes it easier for developers and end users to work with the format and documents created with it. It also makes Microsoft Office products eligible for government procurement initiatives that require open standards.
OOXML competes in the document marketplace with the Open Document Format, which previously won ISO approval. ODF is used in open source office productivity suites such as OpenOffice.org and IBM’s Lotus Symphony package.
Source: Informationweek
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