Oh oh OOXML

Sorry for going on about this OOXML business, but I want to share a thought on the whole matter of approving (or not) the DIS 29500 (OOXML) standard.

First, I think there is a lot of talk and little understanding, and those who ought to understand are not doing so.

The technical arguments against adoption have been falling away during the standard’s review process. We know that complaining about the length of the documents is a truly irrelevant myth. In the end only one argument is left standing that I consider valid: “what do we need another standard for?”

The same is not true of the ethical arguments for opposing it, but in the end those are not going to change things much. I think that approving the standard is ultimately more beneficial, socially and economically, than opposing it, although we will not forget the dirty tricks Microsoft has pulled lately.

But I am with Patrick Durusau, editor of ODF 1.0 and ODF 1.2, who says:

Reject DIS 29500? The cost of rejection is that ordinary users, governments, smaller interests, all lose
seat at the table where the next version of the Office standard is being written.

Approve an admittedly rough DIS 29500? That gives all of us a seat at the table for the next Office
standard. Granting that I wince at parts of DIS 29500, it is hard for me to argue with that rationale.
Because approval of DIS 29500 insures an effective international and public forum whose members
will be heard by Microsoft I recommend approval of DIS 29500 as an ISO standard.*

5 March 2008
Patrick Durusau

*This is a change in my prior position on DIS 29500. Different behavior has led to a different DIS
29500 and hence a different position on my part.

In other words, approving DIS29500 (the ISO standard for OOXML) is ultimately the better outcome, because we get to steer the development of the next standard for Office (the Microsoft application).

The truth is that Microsoft is opening up more and more. Kicking and screaming, but it is doing it, and this standard is a catalyst for an irreversible process: Microsoft will end up being a more open company than anyone would have imagined until recently.

Some 20 years ago, or even 15 years ago, nobody would have bet on an open IBM. Today nobody doubts it, and younger people are surprised to learn that IBM was an even more closed company than Microsoft has ever been. So it would not surprise me if in 10 years we see a different Microsoft, and in that future this episode will be one more milestone.