[SATLUG] Reversing Loss, Microsoft Wins Open-Format Designation

[Jonathan Hull]

More news on this this morning.

http://news.slashdot.org/news/08/04/03/1318247.shtml

Seems that the EU is investigating and that the decision is being
appeal. Lets hope this gets reversed.

-Jon

On 4/2/08, Jonathan Hull <masterr at gmail.com> wrote:
> Dang. I was hoping that story was just an April Fool's joke.
>
>  With all the known corruption and consistencies in the voting I hope
>  this gets investigated and reversed, but judging by ISO's reputation
>  sadly that probably won't happen... grrrr. This is the worst
>  "standard" they could have approved.
>
>  -Jon
>
>
>
>  On 4/2/08, Borries Demeler <demeler at biochem.uthscsa.edu> wrote:
>  > In today's New York Times...what is this, let's vote until we get the
>  >  result we want? This doesn't look good for OpenOffice being accepted as
>  >  the standard.
>  >  -b.
>  >
>  >  ****************************************************************************
>  >  Reversing Loss, Microsoft Wins Open-Format Designation
>  >
>  >  By KEVIN J. O'BRIEN
>  >  Published: April 2, 2008
>  >
>  >  Microsoft has won an international standards designation for its
>  >  open-document format, according to voting results obtained Tuesday,
>  >  apparently ending a divisive yearlong battle with software rivals before
>  >  a global standards-setting organization.
>  >
>  >  Microsoft's Office Open XML, a format for interchangeable Web documents,
>  >  was approved by 24 of 32 countries in a core group in a ballot by
>  >  the International Organization for Standardization. Approval by the
>  >  standards-setting body, a nongovernmental network of 157 countries based
>  >  in Geneva, is considered almost certain to influence software spending
>  >  by governments and large companies.
>  >
>  >  The tally reversed a loss by Microsoft in first-round voting before an
>  >  87-nation panel in September, a process that involved blunt lobbying by
>  >  both sides toward members of national standards committees - typically
>  >  made up of technicians, engineers and bureaucrats.
>  >
>  >  In the final round of voting, which ended Saturday, three-quarters of the
>  >  core group members - including Britain, Japan, Germany and Switzerland -
>  >  supported Microsoft's standard, according to the results document. Of
>  >  the 87 votes, 10 opposed the standard: Brazil, Canada, China, Cuba,
>  >  Ecuador, India, Iran, New Zealand, South Africa and Venezuela.
>  >
>  >  Under organization rules, at least 66 percent of core group members must
>  >  accept a standard for it to be approved, and no more than 25 percent of
>  >  all voting nations can be opposed.
>  >
>  >  Roger Frost, a spokesman in Geneva for the standardization group,
>  >  would not confirm that Microsoft's format had been designated, saying
>  >  the organization would disclose the vote Wednesday after informing its
>  >  members. The International Herald Tribune obtained the results from one
>  >  of the delegations contacted by the standardization group.
>  >
>  >  Microsoft's request for rapid approval of its standard in early 2007
>  >  produced an intense lobbying campaign by I.B.M. and Sun Microsystems,
>  >  which had helped develop a rival interchangeable document format called
>  >  Open Document Format.
>  >
>  >  This rival was the first interchangeable document format to receive
>  >  approval by the standardization group in 2006, and its backers used that
>  >  in selling the technology to governments and large companies. The format
>  >  is now being considered for use by 70 nations.
>  >
>  >  Microsoft's push for speedy approval led to objections from many members
>  >  of the standards group. They felt pressure from the company, whose Office
>  >  application suite is the standard on more than 90 percent of computers and
>  >  archives worldwide, according to International Data in Framingham, Mass.
>  >
>  >  There were tart remarks even from countries that abstained from the
>  >  vote, like the Netherlands. "This is like someone with six shopping
>  >  carts of food trying to go through the express lane at a supermarket,"
>  >  said Michiel Leenaars, a member of the Dutch delegation. "The end result
>  >  of this will be confusion. The standard is simply too big. There are
>  >  still a lot of questions out there."
>  >
>  >
>  >
>  >  --
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