Microsoft wins Open XML document certification
updated 04:40 pm EDT, Tue April 1, 2008
microsoft wins OOXML vote
Microsoft's Office Open XML open format for electronic documents has been voted in as a global industry standard by the ISO and IEC, the software company said on Tuesday. The decision, to be officially announced on Wednesday, has been over 14 months in the making. Last September, the standardization was rejected as the format did not receive the required two-thirds of votes from participating national body members of the ISO, but a second ballot that closed on Saturday netted a 75 percent majority in favor.
The argument against certification centers around the existence of the ISO-approved Open Document Format (ODF), with critics saying more than one standard is redundant. Also, the existing ODF standard is considered more universal and is supported by open productivity suites such as OpenOffice.
With the international ratification of OOXML, Microsoft is believed to have an easier time winning government contracts and having developers create new software. Open XML formats allow reporting of information from other applications and systems without having to translate them first. Open XML now joins HTML, PDF and ODF as recognized open document format standards.
Ho hum...
04/01, 05:13pm reply
I wonder what it was that changed their minds. Or should I say how much...
chrissyboy
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
Bribery ...
04/01, 05:14pm reply
... will get you everywhere. At least for a while.
chas_m
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Joined: Aug 2001
open?
04/01, 05:46pm reply
there's nothing open about ms
mymacluvsme
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Joined: Aug 2004
i still can't
04/01, 05:59pm reply
open their Office Open XML document correctly with even Microsoft's own Office suite.
Seems like the cart is squarely before the 3 week old puppy.
Flying Meat
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Joined: Jan 2007
Re: I still can't
04/01, 06:40pm reply
Well, now that it is a standard, it should be no time at all for various places to make conversion software for their document formats.
Come on, you can't expect MS to be able to do all the work! They're a small company just trying to stay afloat. And without that increase of H1-B visas, they have no slaves...erm....workers.
testudo
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Joined: Aug 2001
still have patents
04/01, 10:36pm reply
But they still have patents so they will sue you for using it if you're product is a competitor.
bhuot
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Joined: Nov 2003
Re: still have patents
04/02, 11:17am reply
A lot of certified standard stuff has patents on it, like that AAC audio you get out of itunes.
Who knows who'll be suing whom for anything?
testudo
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Joined: Aug 2001