[Chapter-delegates] OOXML as standard: not likely but even impossible before 2009

[Michiel Leenaars]

Hello all,

last week I posted this mail. It turns out that the ISO/JTC1
SC34 secretariat made a significant mistake on their website when they
stated there would be an FDIS in december 2008 - and I happened to trip
over it. Meanwhile the mistake has been pointed out to them and has been
corrected on the website. The FDIS is now shown to be scheduled
*directly after* the DIS (so not December 2008 but Februari), which
does make 10 months of difference - and that is quite a lot. 

Of course the controversy and the troublesome technical path still
leave OOXML in limbo for another half year. But it is less than I
expected - the document standards war just got a little more exiting
again. I still feel that Microsoft ought to support ODF natively - it
is childish not to do so.

Best,
Michiel

> > I hope you will find below analysis of what happens next in the
> > controversial OOXML ISO process of interest.
> >
> > The result of the recent negative vote is quite significant.
> > Whatever happens to OOXML at the Ballot Resolution meeting in
> > Geneva, even if a magic pixie turns thousands of comments into thin
> > air and all P- members
> > see the light, there cannot according to ISO/JTC1 SC34 be a so
> > called Final Draft International Standard vote before december 2008
> > [1]. After the socalled BRM in Geneva tentatively scheduled for
> > Februari a modified DIS is to be sent to the voting nations again
> > as an FDIS (Final
> > Draft International Standard) for a final approval vote (yes or no).
> >
> > If new members have joined by december 2008, or others have
> > dropped off
> > again, the vote can still change and therefore ISO status will
> > remain uncertain until the very last moment. If the vote is
> > positive ISO still
> > takes some time for the final issuing as standard - formally up to
> > 60 days after FDIS approval to allow for appeals etc. I can't see
> > why they
> > would want to rush this given the damage it occurred throughout the
> > OOXML process. Only then (at best early 2009) could there be a
> > formal 'de iure' ISO Standard.
> >
> > It is highly likely that given the turbulence around the standard
> > this scenario is way too optimistic - perhaps years or even
> > eternity. The technical work is extremely complex. Investigations
> > around corruption, committeestacking and payola for votes will have
> > their impact and make the otherwise already controversial OOXML
> > even less attractive with the legacy binary formats still
> > performing for the vast majority of users. My feeling is that OOXML
> > will be too late to play any significant role in the game - and
> > since it started only when ODF 1.0 was finished and a good five
> > years after the work on that standard took off that is only
> > logical. Microsoft should activate the native ODF support in Office
> > 2007 it has probably been working since 2005 when the format got
> > standardised at OASIS and just give in. Anything else will damage
> > its customers and that would be a capital mistake.
> >
> > Kind regards,
> > Michiel Leenaars
> > Director ISOC.nl
> >
> > [1] http://www.jtc1sc34.org/document/secretariat_temp.html#is29500