Open XML: what does it mean?

chris

Open MXL is about to get its official ratification as an IT standard.
The upcoming ISO standard (ISO/IEC DIS 29500) is now on track to gain formal recognition following the meeting of the Ballot Resolution Process grouping. Open XML is a specification for electronic documents such as speadsheets, charts, presentations and word processing documents.

As David Mitchell, SVP/IT Research at Ovum points out: “This reverses the previous rejection of the standard in September 2007. The standard was originally submitted by Microsoft to ECMA, and was approved as ECMA standard 376 before being submitted to ISO through the Fast Track process. Of course, this is the Open XML standards decision that has been hanging over the industry for some time.

“So… what will change now that the standard has been ratified?” asks Mitchell. “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.”

“Those who are supporters of Open XML will need to move into the implementation phase, because standards are simply documentation. One of companies that many will look to take a lead with implementation is Microsoft.”

“For the previous rejection to have been overturned it needed the National Bodies of many countries to change their votes. Among the countries who changed their votes from ‘Disapprove’ to ‘Approve’ were Czech Republic, South Korea, Denmark, Norway, United Kingdom, Ireland, Trinidad & 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.”


Source: Rapid TV News

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