[A2k] Re: [Openstds] Reuters: Microsoft wins document format standards battle

[Daniel Dardailler]

Mine is funnier: http://www.linux.com/feature/131073

Thiru Balasubramaniam wrote:
> http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=USL0180031920080401
>
> ---------------
>
> <SNIP>
>
> 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."
>
> ----------------
>
>
> 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)
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> Thiru Balasubramaniam
> Geneva Representative
> Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
> thiru@keionline.org
>
>
> Tel: +41 22 791 6727
> Mobile: +41 76 508 0997
>
>
>
>
>
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