[A2k] Reuters: Microsoft wins document format standards battle

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=USL0180031920080401

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James Love, director of Knowledge Economy International, which
campaigns for fairer access to knowledge, told Reuters: "We are
disappointed."

"Microsoft's control over document formats has destroyed competition
on the desktop, and the fight over OOXML is really a fight over the
future of competition and innovation."

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UPDATE 1-Microsoft wins document format standards battle
Tue Apr 1, 2008 2:39pm EDT

(Adds quotes, detail, background, GENEVA to dateline)

By Georgina Prodhan and Laura Macinnis

FRANKFURT/GENEVA, April 1 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote,
Profile, Research) has won a battle to have a key document format
adopted as a global standard, improving its chances of winning
government contracts and dealing a blow to supporters of a rival format.

The OpenDoc Society, which had argued Microsoft's Office Open XML
(OOXML) format was unripe for ratification by the International
Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), published the results showing
Microsoft's win on its Web site.

Microsoft welcomed the decision, which was leaked on Tuesday ahead of
an official ISO statement expected on Wednesday, saying it created a
"level playing field" for OOXML to compete with other standards.

Supporters of rival Open Document Format (ODF), which is already an
ISO standard and widely used, said multiple formats defeated the
purpose of having standards and that the result would help Microsoft
tighten its grip on computer users.

Tom Robertson, Microsoft's head of interoperability and standards,
said: "Open XML joins the ranks of PDF, HTML and ODF among the ranks
of document formats. I think it makes it easier for governments to
offer users choice."

"The control over the specification now moves into the hands of the
global community. This is going to be one of the most, if not the most
important document format around the world for years to come," he
added in a phone interview.

James Love, director of Knowledge Economy International, which
campaigns for fairer access to knowledge, told Reuters: "We are
disappointed."

"Microsoft's control over document formats has destroyed competition
on the desktop, and the fight over OOXML is really a fight over the
future of competition and innovation."

Microsoft, shepherded through a fast-track ISO approval process by
European standards organisation Ecma, lost a first ISO vote in
September. Under the process, a second vote was allowed after a so-
called ballot resolution meeting last month.

In the second voting period that closed on March 29, Microsoft won the
approval of 86 percent of voting national bodies and 75 percent of
those known as P-members. A two-thirds majority of the P-members was
required.

Among those voting in favour of OOXML were the United States, Britain,
Germany and Japan, according to the OpenDoc Society list. Opponents
included China, India and Russia.

The process tested ISO to its limits as national bodies waded through
the 6,000 pages of code that define OOXML, then dealt with more than a
thousand points of order at the ballot resolution meeting, which was
designed to help reach consensus.

ODF has just 860 pages of code, one of the reasons that many experts
argue that translation between the two is too incomplete to allow true
interoperability -- a concept that Microsoft has recently publicly
embraced.

Michiel Leenaars, who is on the OpenDoc Society board and chaired the
Dutch committee in the first stage of the ISO process, said OOXML was
not ready to be an international standard and that the 15-month ISO
process had been too fast.

"It was mission impossible," he told Reuters by phone. "The process
wasn't meant for this type of thing." (Editing by David Holmes and
Braden Reddall)

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Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
thiru@keionline.org


Tel: +41 22 791 6727
Mobile: +41 76 508 0997