Microsoft sails through document standard vote

Standards body Ecma International passed a vote to make Microsoft Office document formats an international standard on Thursday.

At the general assembly of Ecma International in Zurich, Switzerland, Microsoft's Office Open XML--a set of specifications detailing the document formats in Microsoft's office--was certified as a standard.

In addition, the membership-based standards organization voted to propose Office Open XML to the larger International Organization for Standardization (known as ISO) for standards approval through its fast-track process, according to Ecma.

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The vote to accept Microsoft's submission as a standard was expected. The ISO standardization process typically takes about nine months, according to experts.

IBM, which has been a vocal advocate of another standard called open document, or ODF, voted against making Open XML a standard. ODF was passed earlier this month as an ISO standard.

The certification from ECMA--formerly known as the European Computer Manufacturers Association--marks about a year of work for a technical committee set up to standardize Office Open XML.

These document formats are the default for Office 2007, an upgrade to Microsoft's productivity suite that was released to businesses late last month and expected to be available to consumers next January.

Novell, which participated in the Ecma technical committee, intends to support Office Open XML in its distribution of the OpenOffice open-source productivity suite. Corel, which makes the WordPerfect Office suite, intends to support both Office Open XML and OpenDocument.

[Commander_Spock]

So...

... what will "The certification from ECMA--formerly known as the European Computer Manufacturers Association--marks about a year of work for a technical committee set up to standardize Office Open XML" do for my organization if Lotus Notes (HANNOVER) which "will include a set of office productivity tools which support the Open Document Format (ODF) standard. These productivity tools include word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation capabilities. "Hannover" users will be able to create, manage, edit, and import documents in ODF. The IBM productivity tools can also import and edit Microsoft Office documents and export those documents to ODF for sharing with ODF-comliant applications and solutions..." will be the only application we will ever need to complete the tasks at hand!

[Tanjore]

Well now IBM can use the specifications for converstion

Now IBM Lotus notes can use documented ECMA specification to read or conver microsoft documents into other formats!!!

So it is good for third party vendors!!!.

Previously converstion was purely through reverse engineering!!!

[SystemsJunky]

Lotus......?

is such a lame product. Id rather use paper and pen..or better yet, an etch-o-sketch.

[Ryo Hazuki]

And...

...what will Lotus Notes (HANNOVER) with its groundbreaking "set of office productivity tools which support the Open Document Format (ODF) standard" do for my organization if almost noone uses that format and more than 75% of the market uses Microsoft Office formats anyway and you can do everything you can do in Lotus Notes (HANNOVER) in Office 2007 and then more?
Microsoft Office will continue to be the only application we will ever need to complete those mentioned "tasks at hand" and then much more.

[qwerty75]

So what?

If MS continues to uses its formats to lock people in, by changing the specs on a whim, it will never be a real standard.

[Commander_Spock]

How About...

... the establishment of an American Office Sandards Specification: The rationale for this - India and China can/may soon pose a threat to the world's economy as we know it today and these countries may soon represent a stronger IT Industry than Europe which is not known to have had a significant IT Industry of their own; so, what "skills set" do they bring to the "table/international arena" to influence the rest of the world through the ECMA's approval of Microsoft's Office Open XML Standards!

[speedy-x]

well...

If it wasn't cause of the pressure of 'insignificant europe' MS wouldn't have started thinking of giving technical specifications. If it wasn't for 'mickey-mouse'-belgium (i live in it and it's damned small) that took the decision to use only standard and open document types from 2 years on, MS wouldn't feel the pressure for a open-xml.
Sometimes 'insignificant' outsiders just have that bit of objectivity that lacks 'significant' countries that only have to protect their own (MS) industry.
Who do you think never wanted 'standards' to be made in the US, except in redmond?

[curtegg]

The real story

One part in a growing concern:

http://www.informationweek.com/news/
showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=WJMM4FHN15AL4QSNDLPCKH0CJUNN
2JVN?articleID=196601781&pgno=2&queryText=

[Ryo Hazuki]

Tip of the iceberg

This is just the beginning of a plan by Microsoft to enslave the world.

[lesfilip]

Commander_Spock is a talkbot

Commander_Spock is a talkbot. It is hilarious to see Ryo having a
conversation with it. Commander_Spock is not human, folks.

Have a nice day!

[Commander_Spock]

HA, HA, HA! HO, HO, HO.......

... Even more "boisterously entertaining" it is to see "lesfilip" remark that it is "hilarious to see Ryo having a conversation with it. (-) Commander_Spock" whom "lesfilip" appears to declear is not "human"; there is a saying anyway that "birds of a feather flock together" and that "one becomes what they eat"; perhaps, it is the "ERR" PEPPER-POT (LAMB CHOPS) that is included in Commander_Spock's Diet (therefore/perhaps, the opportunity and ability to avoid the KOOL-AID that "RYO and the rest of 90% plus market share consume) that the that have made him and other members of his GALACTIC CIVILIZATION that different from the other MEMBERS of the FEDERATION; and, talking about being "hilarious"... just wait and see (if REDMOND does not have Commander_Spock's "ERR PEPPER-POT" on their MENU) which companies will be celebrating their newly discovered "Commander_Spock's ERR DIET". Then, will they become like him!

HA!, HA!, HA!.. HO!, HO!, HO!...

HAPPY HOLIDAYS to "lesfilip" and ALL!