● 08.12.07

●● Has Microsoft OOXML Jumped Off the ISO Fast Track?

Posted in Action, America, Formats, Interoperability, ISO, Microsoft, Open XML, OpenDocument, Standard at 5:53 am by Shane Coyle

It appears that Microsoft may be encountering some delays in their attempts to gain fast-track approval for their Office Open XML file format, in fact it is being reported that they are one vote shy of Fast-Track approval in a recent internal INCITS poll.

The INCITS is the group that represents the United States in ISO deliberations, and according to the article the internal poll vote broke down as such:

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Of the organizations that participated in the poll, Apple, the Department of Homeland Security, EIA, EMC, HP, Intel, Microsoft, and Sony all voted in favor of OOXML fast-track approval. Votes opposing approval came from Farance, GS1 US, IBM, Lexmark, NIST, Oracle, and the US Department of Defense. IEEE—which is comprised of numerous organizations including the companies that are on the INCITS executive board—abstained, citing internal disagreement.

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Of course, even if OOXML is not given Fast-Track approval, it will continue to have the chance to slowly make its way through the ISO approval process and Microsoft will be afforded opportunities to correct or justify the numerous points of concern that have been raised since OOXML’s introduction such as reliance on proprietary formats and binary-only information, impossible (for third parties) to implement cryptic references to undocumented and proprietary information such as AutoSpaceLikeWord95, or their odd preference for reinventing the wheel with departure from accepted standards such as MathML, not to mention plain old bugs that should be addressed.

Then again, this entire exercise has been an example of Microsoft’s predilection for eschewing accepted standards and reinventing the wheel in their own proprietary way, since we already have an International Standard, ISO-approved, Office File Format.

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