In the run-up to the battle OpenXml

A final vote on the ISO standardization of the format proposed by Microsoft is expected by the end of March.

Business Date 11-03-2008

The battle over OpenXml legislation, the standard documentary Microsoft came in the run-up. At the end of February, the standards body Iso has organized a meeting in Geneva called "analysis of the votes" to judge whether the changes to the initial proposal of the standard are good. These changes were proposed dall'Ecma, following the negative Votic expressed by member countries dell'Iso 2 September 2007.

The result of the meeting in Geneva is read by ambiguously. The votes were mostly positive and that is why the Ecma was rushed to talk of a meeting "very productive and positive." But the reality is different. On 87 national committees members, only 32 were present including nearly two thirds have declined or have refused to participate in the vote. The reasons for this boycott are difficult to understand. The meeting took place with unusual ways. About 1,100 amendments dall'Ecma, aolo the 20% were actually discussed before being voted, while the other has acted directly, for lack of time.

What will happen now? Different countries have until March 29 to make a definitive finding. The publication of OpenXml as standard will be effective if more than two-thirds of national delegations will vote in a positive way, and if less than a fourth vote against it. The conference in Geneva will not let you see clearly.

From here at the end of the month, the main players in this affair belligerents have decided to rinserrare troops. Microsoft has just announced an initiative called Document Interoperability, which brings together companies such as Novell, Nuance, DataViz QuickOffice or, in order to test and improve interoperability between OpenXml and Odf, open format opposed by open source community. Opponents, however, have decided to gather within the Document Freedom Day. The event will take place on 26 March, ie a few days before the final decision dell'Iso, and provides for the distribution of kits promotion of open formats at the information in different countries. This day "militant" is supported, among others, by the Free Software Foundation Europe, Odf Alliance, OpenForum Europe, Ibm, Red Hat and Sun.

http://www.databusiness.it/it/news/2008/03/11/in_dirittura_d_arrivo_la_battaglia_su_openxml

my best faithfully,

paolo del bene