[Infowarrior] - Microsoft Loses Vote on XML File Standards

[Richard Forno]

Microsoft Loses Vote on File Standards
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-Europe-Microsoft-Software-Stan
dards.html?pagewanted=print
Filed at 1:48 p.m. ET

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- Microsoft Corp. has failed in a first step to win
enough support to make the data format behind its flagship Office software a
global standard, the International Standards Organization said Tuesday.

This weekend's vote by national standards agencies from 104 nations did not
provide the two-thirds majority needed to give Microsoft's format the ISO
stamp of approval. But they will meet again in February to try to seek a
consensus, and Microsoft could win them over at last.

ISO approval for Microsoft's Open Office XML would encourage governments and
libraries to recognize the format for archiving documents, which in turn
could help ensure that people using different technologies in the future
could still open and read documents written today in Open Office XML.

Approval of its system as a standard would also help Microsoft tamp down
competition from the OpenDocument Format, created by open source developers
and pushed by such Microsoft rivals as IBM Corp.

Massachusetts state government stirred huge interest in the matter when it
advocated saving official documents for long-term storage in the
nonproprietary ODF format. That prompted Microsoft to seek recognition of
Open XML by the global standards body.

The company has offered to license Open Office XML for free to anyone who
wants to build products that access information stored in Office documents.
It claims the format is richer than ODF because, being based on XML computer
language, it can store the layout of spreadsheets and legal documents
created with Office 2007.

But Shane Coughlan of the Free Software Foundation Europe, a group of open
source developers, questioned whether Open Office XML would truly live up to
its name and be open to all. Coughlan said it was unclear whether some of
the code requires Microsoft's permission to be used.

''It is important that everyone owns their data, that access does not depend
on any one company,'' he said. ''Any serious corporation or government
should be dubious about using it if the legality is unclear.''

Publishing an open standard means it will be available to everyone, a sort
of Rosetta stone that makes sure the key documents of today -- whether they
be legal texts, novels-in-progress or accounting spreadsheets -- don't
become unreadable hieroglyphics to future generations.

Despite losing the initial round of voting with ISO, Microsoft was confident
of future success, saying many of the ISO members that did not vote for the
format said they would do so when certain criticisms have been addressed.

''This preliminary vote is a milestone for the widespread adoption of the
Open XML formats around the world for the benefit of millions of
customers,'' said Microsoft's general manager for interoperability, Tom
Robertson. ''We believe that the final tally in early 2008 will result in
the ratification of Open XML as an ISO standard.''

According to ISO, Microsoft had 53 percent of the votes in favor -- instead
of the 66 percent it needed.

The ISO process is essentially a debate that tries to fix outstanding
problems so a format can win sufficient support. But Coughlan said
Microsoft's heavy lobbying for Open Office XML had showed that ISO selection
needs to be reviewed to make sure one voice could not shout louder than
others. Coughlan and others have alleged that Microsoft unduly influenced
the industry committees that advise national standards bodies on ISO votes.