The Final OOXML Update

Pedro · Oct 17, 2009

Part I

I have not written a blog post on OOXML for well over a year now. My last post on this topic was on August 17th, 2008 and covered the contentious appeals process which followed the DIS 29500 Fast Track ballot. So I hope that one more post, 14 months later, will not seem excessive to my critics. There is too much good stuff going on with ODF these days, with ODF 1.2 coming soon, inter-vendor work at plugfests, the ODF Toolkit, and continual national adoption, for me to waste much time on OOXML. "Let the dead bury their own dead" is my attitude here. That said, I have received several requests for an update on OOXML, so I will oblige with some quick observations in what (I hope) is my final update on this sad chapter in standardization.

I'll structure this update over a handful of posts, each one looking at a single topic. In this post I'll cover the tight control Microsoft maintains over the OOXML standard, despite their earlier assertions to the contrary.
Click to expand...

The Final OOXML Update: Part I
by Rob Weir

Pedro · Oct 17, 2009

Part II

In Part I of this OOXML update, my first post on the topic in over a year, I showed you how Microsoft maintains strong control over the OOXML standard. Despite their earlier promises that control of OOXML would be handed over to an independent, international committee, a look at attendance records reveals that the committee that maintains OOXML (JTC1/SC34/WG4) consists mainly of Microsoft employees, who outnumber any other company or organization on the committee 10-to-1.

In this, Part II of my OOXML update, I'll tie up another loose end from the immediate aftermath of the DIS 29500 BRM.

Let's start by casting our memories back to April, 2008. The BRM was over. NBs had reviewed thousands of pages and submitted thousands of defects. And Microsoft/Ecma made thousands of responses. And the BRM approved thousands of changes. Then, as a final step, NBs were asked if they wanted to change their vote from their original September 2007 vote, based on the changes made to the standard by the BRM.

Curiously, NBs were asked to make their final decision without actually seeing the text of the standard they were being asked to approve. ISO leadership denied requests from several NBs, a formal SC34 resolution requesting this text, as well as NB appeals, all which asked to have access to the "final DIS" text that would eventually be published. The ISO chief, in his response to the NB appeals, called the final text of OOXML "irrelevant" (prophetic words, indeed!) and would only permit NBs to have access to a list of over 1,000 resolutions from the BRM, many of which gave great editing discretion to the Microsoft consultant who would eventually produce the final text of the specification.
Click to expand...

The Final OOXML Update: Part II

Pedro · Dec 1, 2009

Part III

This is Part III of an 5-part series on the state of OOXML today. Previous to starting this series, I had not posted about OOXML in over a year. Part I showed how Microsoft, despite their promises that control of OOXML would be handed over to an independent, international committee, have instead stuffed the committee that maintains OOXML (JTC1/SC34/WG4) with Microsoft employees. And in Part II I looked at how the final published text of OOXML failed to account for all BRM decisions, and described the steps that ISO was taking to remedy this obvious procedural flaw.

In this Part I'll look at how Microsoft is using their dominance in SC34 to push through hundreds of changes and additions to OOXML, in a misuse of a procedure intended for correcting drafting errors, to make OOXML "conform" to Microsoft's monopoly product.

Let's start by taking a look at the OOXML defect log [PDF] that SC34/WG4 uses to track their large list of errors and omissions discovered in the published standard. This defect report currently amounts to over 800 pages, longer than the entire ODF 1.0 standard. But it is well worth downloading and browsing through.
Click to expand...

The Final OOXML Update: Part III

Log in or Sign up

The Final OOXML Update

Pedro Registered Member

Pedro Registered Member

Pedro Registered Member

Log in or Sign up

The Final OOXML Update

Pedro Registered Member

Pedro Registered Member

Pedro Registered Member

Useful Searches