More information is leaking out about the content of the comments, complaints and formal contradictions that 19 countries submitted to the International Standards Organization under the fast-track approval process for Microsofts Office Open XML format.
Office Open XML was approved as a standard by Ecma International in December 2006, and in early January that standards body began the fast-track process for adoption of the format as an ISO international standard.
During the 30-day comment period that followed, the national standards body of 19 ISO member countries commented, complained or issued formal contradictions.
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A source close to Microsoft told eWEEK that Romania specifically stated that it is in support of the fast-track process, while other countries, including Hungary and Sweden, also raised no contradictions in their submissions.
Many others, including the United States, felt that there were no grounds for contradiction and so chose not to make a submission during the comment period.
Less than 10 of the submissions contain substantive comments that Ecma, Microsoft and others will work to address, the source said.
“This is not that big a number if you consider there are more than 100 countries who could have submitted comments or contradictions, and Microsoft certainly expects technical comments to be submitted during the five-month technical review period. So this is certainly not the end of the discussion,” the source said.
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The issues that have been raised include the question of how dates will be handled, given that there is an official ISO date format.
“The Open XML product does represent the old Lotus date bug-and the irony here is rich and thick-which goes back to the creation of the Lotus 1-2-3 stuff where they incorrectly calculated 1900 and the leap year,” the source said.
“The fact is that you also have compatibility issues with billions of documents, and you dont just go and undo that necessarily, so those issues will get raised and addressed during the technical review process,” the source said.
The ISO Secretariat now has up to 90 days to seek resolution of the issues raised by the member submissions, although this can be extended if the issues cannot be resolved in the given time period. After that comes a five-month technical review period, followed by a vote.
The alternative OpenDocument Format has already been approved as an international standard by the ISO.
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“This is the fast-track timetable that Open XML will follow at ISO, and so there is no possibility of it not being fast-tracked, as has been erroneously reported,” the source said.
It is also important to note that Ecma had been awarded fast-track status with the ISO, indicating that the Ecma process itself met the ISO standard. “So, this whole FUD [fear, uncertainty and doubt] campaign that has been going on questioning Ecma and its credentials is really not valid,” the source said.
Some Microsoft officials, like Tom Robertson, general manager for interoperability and standards, have called the reaction to the 19 comments nothing more than “a lot of hype about the state of the ISOs review of Open XML that is entirely driven by our competitors trying to make a bigger deal out of the comments that have come in than is appropriate.”
Microsoft is encouraged by the fact that “only a small handful” of countries submitted comments, and the company will support Ecma as it works within the ISO process to respond to the comments. “We think we will ultimately resolve all of these issues as we work through this process,” Robertson said.
Microsoft hits back at its Open XML critics.
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Ecma has until Feb. 28 to respond with its proposed “resolution” for each contradiction, according to Andrew “Andy” Updegrove, a partner with Boston law firm Gesmer Updegrove LLP and the editor of the ConsortiumInfo.org standards blog.
Once the response has been received, it will be published, accompanied by the text of the contradictions themselves, as submitted by the national bodies.
“At that point, a decision can be made on the next step. One possibility would be to permit additional time for the contradictions period-which under ISO rules could extend for up to 90 days,” he said, adding that this was “all in all, not a very auspicious start for Office Open XML. And not one that bodes well for a very fast fast-track experience.”
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