December 14, 2007

OOXML: is it just "wait till February"?

Most of us sane enough to be against the adoption of the OOXML as a standard are more or less convinced that now it is somewhat a question of waiting for February and the final decision. Well, it seems that Microsoft is outsmarting us, and seeing a lot more steps until then. For instance, there is a push by Microsoft and others to move ISO toward a "direct participation" model where corporations can participate in ISO directly, bypassing the national body mechanisms altogether. This would essentially turn ISO into a vendor consortium. The ballot that will decide this,
"JTC 1 N8812 - 60-Day Letter Ballot on the Establishment of an Ad Hoc Group on Direct Participation and Call for Participation", is going to be voted at the 24th of this month, and the only open vote I've heard of until now was the one from USA: "The US vote to approve the establishment of the JTC 1 Ad Hoc Group on Direct Participation and intent to participate has been submitted."

Next step: to find out if Portugal is going to vote for this or not.

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