A decision to dismiss appeals against the controversial fast-track approval of a Microsoft document format has provoked six members of global standards-setting body ISO to question ISO’s relevance. Brazil, India, South Africa and Venezuela — countries with fast-growing IT markets — had appealed against ISO’s stamp of approval for Microsoft Office Open XML, an endorsement likely to help the software giant win more public-sector contracts. A significant minority of national standards bodies had voted against approving the Microsoft format.
