[A2k] Wall Street Journal: Microsoft Technical-Standard Bid Fails

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

Microsoft Technical-Standard Bid Fails
By CHARLES FORELLE
September 5, 2007; Page A6

BRUSSELS -- Microsoft Corp. failed to make its Office software file
format an international standard, losing a closely watched vote that
reflects the software titan's broader battles in Europe and around the
world.

Microsoft has pushed hard to place the imprimatur of the Geneva-based
International Organization for Standardization on the newest version of
Office. Gaining such acceptance by the international standards-setting
body was aimed in part at allaying concerns that the Redmond, Wash.,
company's control of the file formats -- the rubrics used to turn bits
of data into business letters, spreadsheets and presentations -- keeps
rivals from developing competing office software.

Critics, led by open-source advocates and rival International Business
Machines Corp., pushed back. They said the Office file format, called
Open XML, is flawed and so laden with Microsoft-specific features that
only Microsoft would be able to use it fully. Giving it the ISO's
approval would cement Microsoft's dominance, they argue.

Microsoft's commanding position in software markets is a hot topic in
Europe. Regulators and the company are eagerly awaiting an important
court ruling, due Sept. 17, in Europe's long-running antitrust case
featuring the Windows operating system. Potentially on deck, should the
antitrust regulator prevail, is a separate complaint alleging Microsoft
has used its Office file formats to block competitors from that market.
Without knowing exactly how a Microsoft Word document is formatted, for
example, a rival has a hard time selling software that works with Word
documents.

Besides concerns over Microsoft's dominance of markets, the standards
matter has become important because it speaks to the issue of who
should control the digital codes used to store billions of documents.

To become a standard, Open XML needed to meet two criteria, and it
missed both -- albeit narrowly in one case. According to the ISO, 26%
of countries casting ballots voted against Open XML; for Microsoft to
have prevailed, no more than 25% can oppose. On a second criterion,
that two-thirds of a key group of countries -- including the U.S. --
vote yes, Open XML fell shorter. It garnered 53% of those votes. The
U.S. voted yes. Voting on Open XML closed Sunday.

The balloting was contentious. Opponents said Microsoft packed national
bodies by urging its allies to join standards committees from Italy to
Kenya. In Italy, the standards committee swelled from a half-dozen
members to 85 in a matter of months. Microsoft responds by saying IBM
was stirring up opposition to Open XML.

Microsoft's top standards official, Tom Robertson, said he was
"extremely delighted" that the company had support from 74% of the
broader group. The standards issue now enters another phase, during
which the company has a chance to persuade opposed countries to change
their minds. Mr. Robertson described the next phase, which should end
in the first quarter of 2008, as an opportunity to improve the
proposal.

The British standards authority said in a statement that its review
panel "identified a number of technical issues in the document which
need to be addressed before the U.K. can approve" Open XML.

Opponents celebrated. "The free-minded society has gathered together,
found that something is wrong, advocated against it and opened the
minds of many," said Carlo Piana, an Italian lawyer who represents
open-source interests and served on the Italian standards committee.
Shane Coughlan, the manager of legal projects at Free Software
Foundation Europe, an open-source group, says the fact that the
proposal wasn't "rubber-stamped by ISO itself...is a good sign for
international standardization."

Write to Charles Forelle at charles.forelle@wsj.com1
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---------------------------------
Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
voice +41.22.791.6727
fax +41.22.723.2988
mobile +41 76 508 0997
thiru@keionline.org