Linux Foundation recommends ISO vote No on OOXML
30 Aug 2007 | 12:43 BST
The Linux Foundation is an IT industry consortium that promotes Linux, founded in 2007 by the merger of the Open Source Development Labs and the Free Standards Group.
ISO is the International Standards Organization, which works with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) to set international hardware, file format and language standards for computers and software.
OOXML is Microsoft's proposed new set of business document file formats created and stored on computers in digital form.
National standards bodies' meetings and votes on fast-track ISO approval of Microsoft's proposed OOXML formats have been marred by reports of serious misbehaviour by Microsoft representatives, affiliates and supporters in several countries.
Delegates have been told that comments filed with Yes votes will have to be resolved before OOXML can be adopted, although this is not the case. Opponents of OOXML approval have been unnecessarily excluded from a standards meeting. High-handed actions by chairmen have effectively directed Yes votes. A national body that was inclined to vote "No, with comments" was maneuvered into abstaining. A meeting was stacked with Microsoft business partners at the last minute. And so on. The list of slick, some would say underhanded or even illegal, tactics pursued by Microsoft as it has pushed for fast-track ISO adoption of OOXML is long and disturbing.
The Linux Foundation statement notes that it is committed to supporting the adoption of open, interoperable IT industry standards that are widely adopted. It says that "When that [standards adoption] process works well, everyone wins."
It makes the crucial point that, with the conversion of paper documents to digital files, use of open formats is essential to preserve accessibility. "Creation of documents in proprietary formats at best jeopardizes that ability, and at worst guarantees that easy access in the future will be impossible."
The heart of The Linux Foundation's statement opposing ISO fast-track approval of OOXML is:
"Consequently, the Linux Foundation believes it is important for effective and robust document format standards to be developed, and for those standards to be universally adopted. In order for universal adoption to be achieved, it is equally important for the process that creates those standards to be above reproach."
The Linux Foundation recommends that ISO/IEC members' national standards bodies vote "No, with comments."
It states four major reasons for voting No on ISO fast-track approval of Microsoft's OOXML formats at this time. Each reason is formally and carefully stated, as is appropriate for consideration by international standards committees, but these four reasons can be summarized as follows:
At 6,000 pages of specifications, OOXML is too complex to approve quickly; therefore it should not be adopted hastily.
With hundreds of technical issues raised about OOXML but not yet resolved, OOXML is still too immature for adoption.
OOXML is encumbered with Microsoft proprietary standards and intellectual property rights, to which access is unknown.
OOXML is a closed, proprietary Microsoft standard, thus it cannot be an open standard that can be widely implemented.
The deadline for ISO participating nations to vote and comment on ISO fast-track approval of OOXML is Sunday, September 2. µ
L'INQS
Ars Technica
The Linux Foundation
See Also
Microsoft brings in rent-a-mob
Vole's smoking gun ISO OOXML memo surfaces
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