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Finally, OOXML Is An ISO Standard
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So, what is the future of ODF?
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Thursday, April 03, 2008:
Microsoft's Office Open XML file format has received the necessary number of votes for approval as an ISO/IEC International Standard, announced ISO yesterday. Approval required at least 2/3 (i.e. 66.66 per cent) of the votes cast by national bodies participating in the joint technical committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology, to be positive; and no more than 1/4 (i.e. 25 per cent) of the total number of ISO/IEC national body votes cast to be negative. These criteria have now been met with 75 per cent of the JTC 1 participating member votes cast positive and 14 per cent of the total of national member body votes cast negative.
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Commenting on the approval, David Mitchell, SVP IT Research, Ovum, said, "For the previous rejection to have been overturned, it needed the National Bodies of many countries to change their votes. Amongst the countries who changed their votes from 'Disapprove' to 'Approve' were Czech Republic, South Korea, Denmark, Norway, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Japan, Thailand and the Philippines. Those changing from 'Abstain' to 'Approve' were Peru, Mexico, Israel, Mauritius, Finland and Slovenia. Of course, there were some countries such as Venezuela who changed from 'Approve' to 'Disapprove'. The two geographic blocks where changes drove the process were: Northern/Western Europe and North East/South East Asia. Together, their changes tilted the balance of the process."
Now, since Microsoft format has become an ISO standard, there will be no obligation on Microsoft's part to be 'supportive' to the other standard. The approval has opened the windows for Microsoft for getting more government customers. Whereas the promotion of ODF, primarily OpenOffice.org, was backed by its being the ISO approved, now with Microsoft having blunt that sharpness, ODF supporters will have to push for the best feature, free of cost. They will also have to enhance look and feel to compete with MS Office 2007. An ordinary home user does want a pleasant experience while working.
Mitchell continued, "So, what will change now that the standard has been ratified? In the short term, very little will change. Those who were protesting and opposing the Open XML progress through the standards process will still oppose it, they will not have a Road to Damascus moment. The nature of their protest will evolve. To begin with, there have been challenges to the process -- and these will continue."
"While Microsoft will have to update their existing product with the changes suggested, it is likely to take some time for this to be completed, and Microsoft will also need to provide tools to convert from the existing Office 2007 formats into the new Open XML standard. Other ISV developers like Apple, IBM, Sun, et al will also need to put their plans in place for supporting this standard; it would not be wise for the developer community to ignore it," said Mitchell.
So, does that mean farewell to ODF? What it does mean is that, developers of software that work with documents will have to support both the formats; and that these developers will need to compete on the basis of the intrinsic merits of their products rather than using a standards body lockout -- from either the ODF or the Open XML camp.
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