ISO Calls For OOXML Ceasefire

In response to the continued attacks on Microsoft's OOXML standard, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has called for a ceasefire. "Last week the ISO committee in charge of document standards, SC 34, met in Oslo to discuss the way forward for OOXML and ODF. The plenary session was marked by protests outside, largely carried out by delegates from a nearby open-source conference. The protesters were calling for OOXML to be withdrawn from ISO standardization -- something that could theoretically happen if a national standards body were to protest against its own vote within the next month or two."

Comments

Fun to Hate MS, but OOXML is needed...

[TheNetAvenger]

Fun to Hate MS, but OOXML is needed...

There is no document standard that properly handles advanced properties and content.

I will again, mention one TINY item that ODF skips and ONLY OOXML supports completely, and it is INK.

I know everyone here seems to 'know it all' but there are billions of dollars in the medical industry that have applications built on INK technology and data. What happens to all these documents, and the exchange of these documents if INK is not preserved?

We could demand all government to not use OOXML, but when medical information that contains INK technology is submited to the government, the data will be lost or reduced to an image at best.

And the medical industry is just one example, although one of the biggest adopters of handwritten and Ink technologies.

So if we demand our governments to not use OOXML, or we demand that OOXML is killed, do you really feel comfortable with the medical industry having to convert and destroy the Ink format? There are billions of documents with Ink technology used in them, and this includes everything from Doctor's notes, to even signature authorizations.

I can't believe that SlashDot readers hate MS so much they are willing to kill technology and destroy technology in use. Is this really in YOUR best interest?

Just to clarify Ink for people. It is NOT just an image, Ink contains a lot of data from the stokes, direction, speed, pressure, as well as the textual equivalent of the Ink written. Which all would be lost when trying to convert it to an Image. Additionally, the 'richness' of Ink technology is why Microsoft TabletPCs and Vista with built in Ink support is important for industries like medical, as well as why it works so well.

You can even do Ink in web pages, but yet everyone here wants to shove this technology in the can so we can rally around a format that has no knowledge of Ink? How can people really justify this?

Microsoft research has put more money and time in making Ink work and work well by staying in native 'Ink' formats and working like existing words, as well as holding the Ink data even when converting the handwriting to text.

As for people that thinks Ink sucks or is a toy technology, go to YouTube and search for Ink, there are several demonstrations of MS Ink technology and even some comparisons of how well it works even for unreadable handwriting because it uses the stokes, pressure, to determine the word instead of the image the Ink produces.

(And if anyone wants to go 'Apple has Ink', also look at the YouTube videos of how Apple's Ink technology works in comparison to MS's technology. Apple's Ink uses an Image format and Image based recognition, and will never touch the recognition levels of MS's technology until they also handle Ink like MS's technology does.)

With my little argument of how important Ink is and a format to hold Ink is, do you really think just based on Ink, that we throw out all the Ink format just because we are paranoid or hate MS?

Now what if we up the conversation of other media formats supported and contained in OOXML, like sound notes (with textual recognition) to advanced animation or Video formats that OOXML provides support for. Then what about advanced engineering math and functions OOXML supports, that a large portion of many industries use and rely on?

In contrast ODF doesn't even touch 50% of today's document technologies, let alone have native support for upcoming and future technologies. OOXML not only defines today's document technologies, but has built in support for emergining technologies and has detailed specifications for adding new technologies in the future that are far more elegant than a reference point and freaking Zip file with the content like you get with ODF.

If you kill OOXML, you will cripple the medical industry at the very least, besides sending other industries back to the early 90s in terms of document features. Scientists and engineers will love having to go back to creating formulas and equations in non-natural formats or rasterize them in their documents. BRILLIANT, AYE?

Re:What's the ISO standard for Irony?

[Miseph]

Really? Better tell that to Wikipedia. Of course, It's beyond me why they felt the need to name it the "International Organization for Standardization" rather than the much more succinct, much less toolish, and properly ordered to their own acronym "International Standards Organization."

Re:OT - What?

[Foofoobar]

Jesus Fuck. Did you not see the mention of metaphor? And the metaphor stopped with comparing the act to creating a child from rape but rewarding the rapist by keeping the child. You people need to get a life and a clue. And see a shrink while you are at it cause it sounds like you have issues that you need worked out if a metaphor gets you this bent.