OOXML Fuss Leads IBM To Scold Standards Setters - Blizzard Sector

**NewsDude** · 09-23-2008, 10:10 PM

Last spring, the International Organization for Standardization voted to certify Microsoft's Office Open XML format as an international standard. The decision came at the end of a long and contentious worldwide vote, a process that featured complicated rules, confusing proposals, and last-minute vote switches by delegations from Denmark, Britain and South Korea.
Microsoft's efforts to win certification for OOXML were strongly opposed by IBM, which backs a rival standard called the Open Document Format used in suites like OpenOffice and StarOffice. IBM has been a longtime supporter of ODF, which was earlier certified by ISO, and objected to what it described as strong-arm tactics by Microsoft to obtain fast-track OOXML certification.
In a press release announcing a new IBM policy for participation in the adoption of open technical standards, Bob Sutor, IBM vice president of open source and standards, stressed the qualities that IBM expects from standards groups.
"Common, open and consensus-based technology standards from reputable standards bodies help ensure that each of us can easily purchase and interchangeably use computing technology from multiple vendors," Sutor said. "The ways in which they are created and adopted provide reasonable assurances that disparate products will work with one another, and withstand the test of time."
Are Standards Organizations Open?
The controversial decision and the manner in which OOXML certification was approved inspired IBM to sponsor and facilitate a "Standards Wiki & Discussion" during the summer. The company invited 70 experts from around the world to debate "whether standard-setting bodies have kept pace with today's commercial, social, legal and political realities."
In the summary of the Wiki comments published by IBM, there was a mixture of opinion about just how open the international certification process should be.
Don Purcell, cofounder and chairman of The Center for Global Standards Analysis at the Catholic University School of Law, argued that some confidentiality...

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09-23-2008, 10:10 PM	#1 (permalink)
NewsDude Status: *** Elder Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: News Office Posts: 1,884** Tournaments Joined: 0 Tournament Wins: 0 Spent time on board: 0:05:24 Hours Rep Power: 4	Last spring, the International Organization for Standardization voted to certify Microsoft's Office Open XML format as an international standard. The decision came at the end of a long and contentious worldwide vote, a process that featured complicated rules, confusing proposals, and last-minute vote switches by delegations from Denmark, Britain and South Korea. Microsoft's efforts to win certification for OOXML were strongly opposed by IBM, which backs a rival standard called the Open Document Format used in suites like OpenOffice and StarOffice. IBM has been a longtime supporter of ODF, which was earlier certified by ISO, and objected to what it described as strong-arm tactics by Microsoft to obtain fast-track OOXML certification. In a press release announcing a new IBM policy for participation in the adoption of open technical standards, Bob Sutor, IBM vice president of open source and standards, stressed the qualities that IBM expects from standards groups. "Common, open and consensus-based technology standards from reputable standards bodies help ensure that each of us can easily purchase and interchangeably use computing technology from multiple vendors," Sutor said. "The ways in which they are created and adopted provide reasonable assurances that disparate products will work with one another, and withstand the test of time." Are Standards Organizations Open? The controversial decision and the manner in which OOXML certification was approved inspired IBM to sponsor and facilitate a "Standards Wiki & Discussion" during the summer. The company invited 70 experts from around the world to debate "whether standard-setting bodies have kept pace with today's commercial, social, legal and political realities." In the summary of the Wiki comments published by IBM, there was a mixture of opinion about just how open the international certification process should be. Don Purcell, cofounder and chairman of The Center for Global Standards Analysis at the Catholic University School of Law, argued that some confidentiality... More...