Comments on: ISO takes up Open XML-ODF 'harmonization' as Norwegians protest

Office Open XML is now in the hands of the ISO which is taking on ODF interoperability. But angry Norwegians stage a demonstration.

[t8]

One theory

Microsoft lined their pockets.

[rsnic]

Microsoft has destroyed the impartial ISO process.

Its a sad day for the ISO process and much confidence has been lost. MS have bribed and undermined countries local standards authorities to win there standard in record time. In the end we now have an inflexible proprietary format as an ISO standard. Hope the ISO will become creditable again as this could set a precedent for other powerful companies.

[Commander_Spock]

"It Is Not Going To Be Over Until The Fat Lady Sings"!

Guess whose reputation is on the line - the ISO's; and, who are the judges... the "market forces" around the world. 8-)

[t8]

Is HTML an ISO standard?

Is HTML an ISO standard?

If not, then perhaps the ISO is not the best place for IT and Web standards. I know that the ISO standard process after this debacle has lost credibility with many.

HTML is an open standard that is W3C certified. It seems that the ISO may not be that important when it comes to the Web. If ODF can become like HTML for the Web platform, then ISO can be for those who want to spend money and want to be locked into proprietary formats. Whereas the Web and W3C can be for those who are educated regarding open formats and protocols.

[Commander_Spock]

When Will The "Concorde" Fly Commercially - Again!

Given that this article in part states that; "Last week, the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) announced that Office Open XML (OOXML) gained enough votes to pass as a standard.

Alex Brown, a member of the U.K.'s national standards body who led the Ballot Resolution Meeting in February, laid out what happens next now that Open XML is a standard in his blog.

Three committees have been formed to usher development of the standard going forward, two of which deal with handling Open XML.

The third is dealing specifically with interoperability between Open XML and ODF.

The most extreme voices in this debate are unhappy about Open XML's standardization.

But people dealing with exchanging documents and writing document-oriented software should take note that interoperability is now part of the ISO's digital documents charter. How that work will interact with other ongoing projects is unclear, but it is now be addressed at the level of national standards bodies..."

Resulting from the above there remains issues that has to be taken under consideration; and, as a point of reference here is an extract from a 1998 Lotus Development Corporation communication;

"Re: Concerning the issues with 1-2-3 that are talked about in the documentation you gave me, most of the issues are related to converting files between older and newer versions of product and converting documents between Lotus and Microsoft. Anytime a file is saved backwards or saved with an older file format than the format the file was created under, such as saving a 1-2-3 , 97 file for Windows 95 into a WK1 format for DOS, then naturally we are expected to loose certain features due to technology and features that are present now that were not present 8 - 10 years ago. Similarly, if we try to convert a file from Lotus into Excel or Excel into Lotus, due to differences in the products not every feature will be converted perfectly with the file filters that are available. Both Lotus and Microsoft create similar spreadsheet programs; however, there are several differences in both programs and these differences will remain to distinguish the products apart. We do try to design conversion filters that will allow as much of the file formats as possible to be exchanged and converted without disrupting the actual file design and format.

In one of your letters you made mention of the @IRR and @ERR functions in the 1-2-3 product. By design the @IRR (notably "absent" in Open Office) will calculate the Internal Rate of Return; where the @ERR is used in conjunction with other formulas, posted was an "ERR" showing an error was received in the calculations. As far as I can see in the program I cannot find an @ERR function that will allow us to calculate an Economic Rate of Return"

Note carefully from the above - "there are several differences in both programs and these differences will remain to distinguish the products apart..."; so, there we are!!!

[Commander_Spock]

When the Inter-American Development Bank and...

... the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) are not the same kettle of "fish"! It's when one knows something that the other does not know. And, when a "standard" is not really a "standard" by certain standards. ;-) M :-$

http://www.iadb.org/am/2008/videos.cfm#

Enjoy.

Commander_Spock and Crew!