ISO Takes Control Of OOXML

mikkl666 writes "Alex Brown, head of the ISO work group responsible for OOXML, has posted a summary of their latest meeting, and he also comments on the resolutions discussed there. The basic message is that ISO now has 'full responsibility for the standard,' and that several workgroups will be established to work on OOXML. An interesting point here is that 'setting up a maintance[sic] procedure for ODF, and then working on cross-standard initiatives' is one of the explicit goals. On a side note, they also reacted to the very emotional discussion on OOXML by posting an open letter: 'We the undersigned participants ... wish to make it clear that we deplore the personal attacks that have been made ... in recent months. We believe standards debate should always be carried out with respect for all parties, even when they strongly disagree.' As Brown correctly points out, 'This content speaks for itself.' We discussed the approval of OOXML earlier this month."

Comments

Re:why not open source Windows?

[notamisfit]

First of all, copyright, like any other form of property right, is a moral right upheld by legislation. Yeah, they can "revoke" it, in the same sense that government thugs with guns can "revoke" my right to my computer or my house. Second of all, yeah, EU could expropriate the copyright. How much shit do you think is going to hit the fan if they do? That's essentially a repudiation of every international copyright agreement out there, and reciprocity can be a real bitch.

Re:What do they expect?

[jlarocco]

That means a lot coming from somebody who spends his money buying internet access and all his time surfing Slashdot. You horrible, horrible bastard. You should be donating that money to finding cleaner energy and feeding the poor.

The epic mistake that is OOXML still does not make that a good argument.