[Chapter-delegates] ooXML

[James Butler]

I'd like to suggest that we try to bulk up our presence in any group that has influence with ISO in order to keep the votes on standardization as balanced as possible. In other words, if 14 Microsoft partners sign up in Belgium in the week before the next vote (in February, I think?), then we should try to get at least 12 non-aligned professionals to join as well. Just to keep the votes more equitable. This may be a short-term defense against a short-term offense, and may provide breathing room to rework the ISO process after we stop the OOXML fast track.

Not to stoke the anti-OOXML fire, but rather to provide a relatively scientific analysis, I'd like to refer interested parties to this article by Stephanie Rodriguez:

http://ooxmlisdefectivebydesign.blogspot.com

This article discusses several challenges faced by application developers who will need to interact with OOXML to provide services for corporate and governmental environments, and to simply continue using customized programming they have developed over the years to help their organizations be more efficient. My reading of it confirms for me that not only is OOXML not ready for inclusion as an "open" standard, but that it is fundamentally flawed.

The article also provides what seems to be a brief yet balanced comparison between the existing ODF standard and OOXML, in those regards.

James Butler
Internet Society - Los Angeles Chapter
Chairman of the Board
jbutler at isoc-la.org

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 9/5/07 at 10:27 PM Alejandro Pisanty wrote:

>Hi,
>
>and, believe it or not, non-European chapters can also use what you learn 
>and do!
>
>Thanks, Christian and all, for opening this valuable thread.
>
>Alejandro Pisanty
>
>
>.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .  .  .  .  .  .
>      Dr. Alejandro Pisanty
>Director General de Servicios de Computo Academico
>UNAM, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
>Av. Universidad 3000, 04510 Mexico DF Mexico
>Tel. (+52-55) 5622-8541, 5622-8542 Fax 5622-8540
>http://www.dgsca.unam.mx
>*
>---->> Unete a ISOC Mexico, www.isoc.org
>  Participa en ICANN, www.icann.org
>.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 
>.
>
>
>On Wed, 5 Sep 2007, Christian de Larrinaga wrote:
>
>> Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2007 18:12:24 +0100
>> From: Christian de Larrinaga <cdel at firsthand.net>
>> To: "borka at e5.ijs.si" <borka at e5.ijs.si>
>> Cc: chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org, patrick at vande-walle.eu,
>>     Brian Carpenter <brc at zurich.ibm.com>
>> Subject: Re: [Chapter-delegates] ooXML
>> 
>>
>> What ICTSB can and should do is to consider the views of its
>> participants that are akin to the substance of its work -- open
>> standards in a european context. If those views are not actionable
>> under the current ICTSB scope which I suspect is largely the case
>> then the ICTSB has the duty to report its work and findings to the EU
>> Commission and can recommend further action at the EU and national
>> level, and can request guidance from the EU.  This is something we
>> could influence.
>>
>> It might not be a complete solution but if those involved in ooxml
>> can identify some high level issues that need addressing then these
>> can be put forward in a European context. Now is a good time to set
>> out the bullet points and substantiated points.
>>
>> I gave a few examples in my response to Geir. I think we should stick
>> to technical issues and not get into an intra-organisational rant
>> with ECMA or ISO or anybody else. We can all do better than we are
>> doing.
>>
>>
>> Christian
>>
>>
>> On 5 Sep 2007, at 16:10, borka at e5.ijs.si wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Just a short information about the mission
>>> (very briefly) of ICTSB:
>>>
>>> It is initiative of the 3 ESO: CEN, CENELEC and ETSI with
>>> 3 main objectives:
>>>
>>> -to listen to requirements for standards and specifications
>>> in the area of ICT
>>>
>>> -stemming from requirements and proposals from
>>> ICTSB members the board considers what standards
>>> need to be created (within the three ESO)
>>>
>>> -agreed work created as a project and allocated
>>> to one or more organization (ESO).
>>>
>>> So, ICTSB has coordinating role and other
>>> members e.g. ISOC European Chapters are there
>>> just for coordination and information the
>>> standardization efforts not to be duplicated.
>>>
>>> ICTSB is not a body to discuss any of the
>>> ISO   or ECMA
>>> activities on the international scheme.
>>>
>>> Examples of ICTSB initiated work is
>>> Assistive technology group (DATSCG),
>>> Intelligent Transport system (ITSSG),
>>> SmartHouse Standards (SHSSG),  Network&
>>> Information Security (NISSG) and Electronic
>>> Signature (EESSI).
>>>
>>> With regards,
>>>
>>>
>>> Borka Jerman-Blazic
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Chapter-delegates mailing list
>> Chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org
>> http://elists.isoc.org/mailman/listinfo/chapter-delegates
>>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Chapter-delegates mailing list
>Chapter-delegates at elists.isoc.org
>http://elists.isoc.org/mailman/listinfo/chapter-delegates