Despite the approval of Microsoft’s Open Office XML standard by two international standards bodies, the document format is not yet on stable ground. India and Brazil have joined South Africa in contesting the approval, standards officials revealed.
“By the deadline last night (Thursday), we had received three appeals, from Brazil, India and South Africa,” said Jonathan Buck, spokesperson for the International Electrotechnical Commission. The IEC, along with the International Organization for Standardisation, is responsible for the technical committee that approved OOXML.
“The (Brazilian) appeal was not lodged in the correct procedure — it was not sent to the CEOs of the two organizations — but nonetheless it has been received,” Buck said, adding that it will be treated in the same way as the Brazilian and South African appeals.
The process in which the Joint Technical Committee approved OOXML has been roundly criticized, especially by countries with strong open-source communities. OOXML was approved in a “fast track” process in which a ballot-resolution meeting is called when a proposal is rejected on the technical merits. At that meeting, the criticisms are discussed and improvements made.
At the February ballot-resolution meeting, delegates had just five days to address more than 1,000 complaints about the proposed standard. The changes were voted on without discussion, but since that rushed approval the JTC has delayed publishing the approved spec. Now, a month after the deadline, the final draft is still not published.
Technology lawyer Andy Updegrove, who writes about standards on the Standards Blog, reported that Brazil and South Africa are both objecting to the failure to publish the reconciliation draft. “Despite the fact that this release has been requested by many different parties representing multiple viewpoints, no public or private explanation has thus far been given for the failure to follow rules calling for the release of…