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ISO Puts OOXML On Hold
schliz alerts us that ISO, in response to the four appeals (Venezuela, India, Brazil, South Africa) filed in recent weeks, has put the OOXML standardization process on hold. Here is ISO's press release, which says that ISO/IEC DIS 29500 will not be published for at least "several months" while the appeals process goes forward.
Update: 06/11 10:13 GMT by KD : Reader Alsee points out that the fourth officially recognized appealing country is Venezuela, not Denmark as originally stated. The protests of Denmark and Norway are being disregarded, as they do not come from the administrative heads of their national organizations.
Update: 06/11 10:13 GMT by KD : Reader Alsee points out that the fourth officially recognized appealing country is Venezuela, not Denmark as originally stated. The protests of Denmark and Norway are being disregarded, as they do not come from the administrative heads of their national organizations.
Maybe the ISO hasn't been bought off totally. They actually made a rational decision about OOXML.
"On hold" is nice, but will there be an investigation or backlash regarding how it was passed in the first place? Or has the process of buying a standard just become a cost of doing business?
Haha!
I know everyone's going to make comments about OOXML being not a truly open/free/libre format, but there's something bigger going on...
Just to get access to published standards themselves on http://www.iso.org/iso/store.htm costs easily $50 to $150 each! Can someone please tell me how that makes any sense at all? How can we have global standards if people can't afford to even read them? Am I the only one who thinks this might be a bit hypocritical?
--
Hey code monkey... learn digital electronics!
In His infinite Noodliness, has touched the ISO with His Noodly Appendage.
I have a nasty thought that "on hold" is ISO speak for "waiting for the fuss to die down".
But I really hope that there has been enough of a back lash from the knowledgeable and enough of a crammed education on why this matters that this is now too high a profile for it to be swept under the rug.
Of course the downside of this whole fiasco is that there are now many, many more OOXML implementations out there and planned so this is hardly a complete bust for MS.
Still here's hoping that common sense prevails, and a bug grateful thank you for all those people who fought it.
Heh, good one! The fast track process was completely inappropriate for OOXML. With 9 months to review 6000 pages the technical community had only scratched the surface of what's broken in OOXML.
No one in the technical community is happy with the quality of OOXML -- even Microsoft can't implement this thing.
ISO wrote:
This statement has no bearing on the similar statements issued by South Africa and Brazil in their formal appeals that they should have received a final text by now. National Bodies should have received a final text but this is quite different to publishing (which is all the ISO are talking about in that final paragraph).
Section 13.12 of the directives reads,
The BRM was in February and the final text was due in late March. It still has not arrived. You might call this evidence of the OOXML text being in an unreleasable state (read: a mess) and South Africa would agree...
This could all be another fake "evaluation" like the others were.
Just because they appear to be going through the steps that they're required to
Until ISO can PUBLICLY state the errors that were made and WHO made those "errors" AND take action against those individuals they can not be trusted. Not even to follow the procedures that their own rules require of them.
They didn't follow them when they were fast-tracking this. There is no reason to believe that this time will be any different.
Actually them putting it on hold is compliance with the OOXML specification as written by Microsoft.
"No Microsoft product shall have the features promised or be released when scheduled".
So all of you cheering this decision are incredibly misguided. Look a little closer and you will see this is clearly evidence of more MS tampering in the process.
The only change I can believe in is what I find in my couch cushions.
The Norwegian Standards committee was also almost unanimously against the OOXML. Then the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation offered a few hundred million $$ to various pet projects of the Norwegian prime minister such as a Svalbard seed bank http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_Global_Seed_Vault as well as vaccination of kids in poor countries.
To everyones big suprise, the government set aside the No vote, and ruled by fiat that Norway would vote Yes.
But then again, why care about a petty little standard and some petty corruption when you can save the world.
don't cut it off www.mgmbill.org
So, Bill, what are we going to do tonight?
Same thing we do every night, Stevie. Try to take over the world.
Since even Microsoft has switched to ODF, that's pretty much a no-brainer :-)
First sentence of TFA:
Four national standards body members of ISO and IEC - Brazil, India, South Africa and Venezuela - have submitted appeals against the recent approval of ISO/IEC DIS 29500, Information technology - Office Open XML formats, as an ISO/IEC International Standard.
are SAE standards, many of which are incorporated into US regulatory law.
The net effect is that you can't be sure you're legally compliant unless you pay some private organization a tithe.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
Alas I fear I cannot. I find myself tending towards the belief that Microsoft will stop at nothing to get their ISO standard assigned, even if it means the destruction of the credibility of ISO itself.
Mind you, if ISO is so vulnerable this does beg the question 'is it still relevant?'
A learning experience is one of those things that say, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.' - D. Adams
Please let us get the facts straight here.
Denmark did not protest, appeal, or in any way change its official vote. The official Danish ISO vote is controlled by Dansk Standard, who voted "Yes" in the final OOXML specification vote (after initially voting "No with comments").
The reason Denmark keeps sneaking into the list of countries who "appealed" is probably because a local pro-Open Source lobby organization named "Foreningen for Open Source Leverandører i Danmark" (OSL) (their name in English is "The Danish Open Source Business Association") has submitted a protest and that is by many people mistakenly translated into an "official appeal".
Since the protest is not submitted by Dansk Standard (who holds the official ISO vote) but is in fact from a local lobby organization, the vote can not be considered "official" in any way. And it is important to note in this context, that the official Danish vote is still "Yes".
The protest is available in Danish on the OSL website and I also found a copy of the letter in English on Groklaw (its not on the OSL website for some reason). The original Groklaw artikle on the subject is here, in case you want to read the comments yourself.
The complaint criticises both the way Dansk Standard handled the OOXML approval process and a few formal errors in the ISO process.
The story was first announced by Computer World Denmark (Danish only, sorry). It was first mentioned on slashdot on June 1st where sadly it was also mistakenly described as an "official" protest.
- Jesper
My security clearance is so high I have to kill myself if I remember I have it...
There are four appeals, but Denmark's not one of them -- Venezuela is though.
Denmark are just part of the general howl of protest from people who've looked at the heap of excrement that is DIS 29500 and found it wanting, and/or were in one of the many countries where the behaviour of their National Bodies has made it clear that their local Microsoft lackeys have been interfering with what should be a process focussed on technical merit, not on whether personal gain can be maximised.
Debian: GNU/Linux done the Linux way
It only took four countries' standards bodies to get them to ... pause.
Interesting, if you're a country. "Unless you can find lobbying pals, we're not listening. Call back when you've garnered some support."
"Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit
seriously. I know the ./ crowd is mainly US folk, but try to get the international stuff right once in a while.
To be ISO9000 compliant, ISO must have written documentation outlining the procedures for being bought off. If no such documentation exists, it violates the standard.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
> a pinhole of light at the end of the tunnel
That's not the end of the tunnel, that's just oncoming traffic.
Note: grousing about rejected submissions is Offtopic and usually gets moderated that way. It happens, don't take it personally.
Note: grousing about rejected submissions is Offtopic and usually gets moderated that way. It happens, don't take it personally.
2008-06-02 19:06:05 Venezuela, Not Denmark, Is Fourth To Appeal OOXML (Index,Microsoft) (rejected)
The recent report Denmark Becomes Fourth Nation To Protest OOXML is a bit of confusion. There have been many many protests, however the IEC acknowledges four appeals- Brazil, India, South Africa and Venezuela. It appears the letters from Denmark and Norway are being disregarded, as they come from the Chairmen of their respective Technical Committees rather than the administrative heads of the national organisations.
Ok, I won't grouse about rejected submissions. However I damn well will grouse about Slashdot editors re-posting wrong information after getting a submission informing them IT WAS WRONG THE FIRST TIME THEY RAN IT.
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- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.