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India Votes Against OOXML

Posted by kdawson on from the one-down dept.

harsha_c sends in a local Indian perspective on the vote against Microsoft's OOXML ahead of the March 29 deadline. Of 19 companies participating, only 5 voted in favor of OOXML. "It was the ultimate battle for control over global IT standard for documents — between Microsoft-promoted OOXML and Sun and IBM-backed Open Document Format. It was played out between Indian IT giants, namely Infosys, Wipro, TCS supported by Nasscom on one side and the global IT biggies like IBM, Sun Microsystems, Red Hat backed by te IITs, IIMs and IISc on the other, on their respective positions on Microsoft's OOXML standard. Microsoft understandably expressed its disspointment. 'While we are disappointed with the decision of the BIS committee, we are encouraged by the support from NASSCOM.'

5 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. Microsoft's own fault by nguy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    OOXML sucks technically, but that's not even the real problem. The real problem is Microsoft's waffling on making the standard open. If they had unequivocally placed the standard and all necessary patents in the public domain and committed to keeping it stable, more people might vote for it.

  2. Re:"One standard" vs "multiple standards" by Anne+Thwacks · · Score: 5, Insightful
    OOXML cant kill ODF, because ODF is open, and OOXML isnt.People who want to guarantee access to their documents in perpetuity (eg legitimate governments) cannot use OOXML because it cannot meet their needs. It is full of rabbit holes.

    It may take a while for the smoke and mirrors to clear, but in the end, the truth will out.

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  3. Dishonesty of voting for OOXM by Adaptux · · Score: 5, Insightful
    In my opinion, any national body which at the current state votes for OOXML to become an ISO standard is definitely dishonest.

    Either they are dishonest because they don't understand what they're doing while claiming to understand, or they're dishonest because they're knowingly voting against their country's best interest.

    Nota bene, the representatives of Microsoft Corporation and partner companies are not necessarily dishonest in their lobbying for "APPROVE" votes, since what they ask for is genuinely in their interest. But the national bodies are supposed to represent the correspondiong national interest!

  4. Re:"One standard" vs "multiple standards" by mikeabbott420 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Microsofts game is not to promote OOXML, it is to delay and confuse the world wide adoption of any standard. The status quo is worth billions to them yearly as well as being a tool to promote other products. They fight to preserve that. I also find it hard to imagine anyone supporting OOXML for any reason beyond payment from Microsoft. It might be a promise of business investment or Gates foundation aid for a country rather than hookers and blow for an individual but it is still all about getting payment from Microsoft.

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  5. Re:autoSpaceLikeWord95 and useWord97LineBreakRules by Adaptux · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Proprietary crap like that does not belong in a global standard. Sure, it's crap. It's specific information about some bugs in "Word95" and "Word97", by means of which now non-Microsoft vendors can implement some kind of compatibility mode that duplicates those bugs.

    As soon as the revised spec is published by Ecma, the information will be in the public domain. It's crap all right, but it's not "proprietary crap" any longer. And it's certainly no longer an example of missing information in the OOXML spec.

    I agree that it is debatable at least whether this kind of information really belongs into a standard. But what would you suggest that should be done with this information?