May 30th, 2008
Brazil, India, South Africa protest OOXML vote
Brazil, India and South Africa have filed appeals to the ISO/IEC approval of Microsoft’s OOXML. At the Standards Blog, Andy Updegrove outlines some of the issues:
Brazil’s objections fall under two main headings, the second of which was also raised by South Africa. That objection relates to the fact that the reconciliation draft of DIS 29500 that was delivered to ISO on March 29 still has not been released, even to the National Bodies. 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 releasee of the draft within 30 days of the close of the BRM.
In addition, Brazil criticizes the ballot resolution meeting as “inconclusive,” supporting that conclusion with assertions that the decisions were “completely incompatible with the kind of decisions that should have be taken” and that decisions were taken based on the “need to give answers to journalists.”
Ultimate question: Now that three formal appeals have been filed, is the Joint Technical Committee going to take them seriously?
Whether or not this latest appeal will be rejected out of hand or allowed to become the subject of serious consideration remains to be seen. Presumably some of the examples given above will receive scant attention, given that ISO was represented at the meeting, and participated in the decision making that lay behind the key decisions made at the time. But with each additional appeal that is filed, one would hope that a review of the process will be found to be more urgent, given the evident unhappiness of National Bodies that attended the BRM in good faith, and left unsatisfied not with the result, but what they had witnessed in the course of a long and frustrating week in Geneva.
