[A2k] New York Times: Reversing Loss, Microsoft Wins Open-Format Designation

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

<SNIP>


There were tart remarks even from countries that abstained from the
vote, like the Netherlands. =93This is like someone with six shopping
carts of food trying to go through the express lane at a supermarket,=94
said Michiel Leenaars, a member of the Dutch delegation. =93The end
result of this will be confusion. The standard is simply too big.
There are still a lot of questions out there.=94

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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/02/technology/02soft.html

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April 2, 2008
Reversing Loss, Microsoft Wins Open-Format Designation
By KEVIN J. O'BRIEN

Microsoft has won an international standards designation for its open-
document format, according to voting results obtained Tuesday,
apparently ending a divisive yearlong battle with software rivals
before a global standards-setting organization.

Microsoft=92s Office Open XML, a format for interchangeable Web
documents, was approved by 24 of 32 countries in a core group in a
ballot by the International Organization for Standardization. Approval
by the standards-setting body, a nongovernmental network of 157
countries based in Geneva, is considered almost certain to influence
software spending by governments and large companies.

The tally reversed a loss by Microsoft in first-round voting before an
87-nation panel in September, a process that involved blunt lobbying
by both sides toward members of national standards committees =97
typically made up of technicians, engineers and bureaucrats.

In the final round of voting, which ended Saturday, three-quarters of
the core group members =97 including Britain, Japan, Germany and
Switzerland =97 supported Microsoft=92s standard, according to the results
document. Of the 87 votes, 10 opposed the standard: Brazil, Canada,
China, Cuba, Ecuador, India, Iran, New Zealand, South Africa and
Venezuela.

Under organization rules, at least 66 percent of core group members
must accept a standard for it to be approved, and no more than 25
percent of all voting nations can be opposed.

Roger Frost, a spokesman in Geneva for the standardization group,
would not confirm that Microsoft=92s format had been designated, saying
the organization would disclose the vote Wednesday after informing its
members. The International Herald Tribune obtained the results from
one of the delegations contacted by the standardization group.

Microsoft=92s request for rapid approval of its standard in early 2007
produced an intense lobbying campaign by I.B.M. and Sun Microsystems,
which had helped develop a rival interchangeable document format
called Open Document Format.

This rival was the first interchangeable document format to receive
approval by the standardization group in 2006, and its backers used
that in selling the technology to governments and large companies. The
format is now being considered for use by 70 nations.

Microsoft=92s push for speedy approval led to objections from many
members of the standards group. They felt pressure from the company,
whose Office application suite is the standard on more than 90 percent
of computers and archives worldwide, according to International Data
in Framingham, Mass.

There were tart remarks even from countries that abstained from the
vote, like the Netherlands. =93This is like someone with six shopping
carts of food trying to go through the express lane at a supermarket,=94
said Michiel Leenaars, a member of the Dutch delegation. =93The end
result of this will be confusion. The standard is simply too big.
There are still a lot of questions out there.=94

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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