Say NO to OOXML

[Scarecrow Man]

I ask the national members of ISO to vote "NO" in the ballot of ISO DIS 29500 (Office OpenXML or OOXML format) for the following reasons:

• There is already a standard ISO26300 named Open Document Format (ODF): a dual standard adds costs, uncertainty and confusion to industry, government and citizens;
  
  
• There is no provable implementation of the OOXML specification: Microsoft Office 2007 produces a special version of OOXML, not a file format which complies with the OOXML specification;
  
  
• There is information missing from the specification document, for example how to do a autoSpaceLikeWord95 or useWord97LineBreakRules;
  
  
• More than 10% of the examples mentioned in the proposed standard do not validate as XML;
  
  
• There is no guarantee that anybody can write software that fully or partially implements the OOXML specification without being liable to patent lawsuits or patent license fees by Microsoft;
  
  
• This format conflicts with existing ISO standards, such as ISO 8601 (Representation of dates and times), ISO 639 (Codes for the Representation of Names and Languages) or ISO/IEC 10118-3 (cryptographic hash);
  
  
• There is a bug in the spreadsheet file format which forbids any date before the year 1900: such bugs affect the OOXML specification as well as software applications like Microsoft Excel 2000, XP, 2003 and 2007.
  
  
• This standard proposal was not created by bringing together the experience and expertise of all interested parties (such as the producers, sellers, buyers, users and regulators), but by Microsoft alone.
  

http://www.noooxml.org/petition

Do your part. B)

[andsome]

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[Scarecrow Man]

On 2 September 2007, ISO national bodies voted on Ecma 376, "OOXML". The ISO secretariat has decided to move forward with a Ballot Resolution Meeting in February 2008 to make the final decision. Microsoft got to pass with 19 "difficulties" round one (fasttrack OOXML) and lost round two (vote on OOXML), and now the fight moves to round three, the definitive one.

From February 25 to 29, 2008, national boards will meet in Geneva to discuss and vote finally on OOXML. If your country is not present, it won't have a say in the final result.

This website explains how to help your national ISO board do its job and reject OOXML.

http://www.noooxml.org/

Basically Microsoft is attempting to pass an XML format as an international standard. And as you can see above, there is quite a few problems with it, not to mention we already have one that works quite well (which Microsoft does not follow). This petition is to stop Microsoft from passing OOXML as an international standard format.

[andsome]

You appear to know what this is all about, so I have voted just to please you. I still don't know what it all means though. :D

[Scarecrow Man]

You appear to know what this is all about, so I have voted just to please you. I still don't know what it all means though. :D

Thanks, but you really shouldn't vote unless you know what you are voting for... B)

XML is a document format. Just like DOC or TXT.

Microsoft is attempting to standardize its own OOXML (Office Open XML) as an international standard. The problem is its quite buggy (programing is rubbish) and considering there is already an international standard (OpenOffice.org uses it) why do we need another one? Especially one from Microsoft?

[andsome]

I have taken your word for it. :D :D :D