“A panel of software experts yesterday unexpectedly rebuffed Microsoft’s bid to have its open document format, Office Open XML, recognized as an international standard. The decision complicates the company’s effort to extend its dominance to the emerging field of open documents,” Kevin J. O’Brien reports for The New York Times.
“After five months of electronic balloting, Microsoft failed to meet the two voting criteria to win a designation as an approved standard from the Geneva-based International Organization for Standardization, or the I.S.O., and the International Electrotechnical Commission, or I.E.C.,” O’Brien reports.
“The fight over the standard, while technically arcane, is commercially important because more governments are demanding interchangeable open document formats for their vast amounts of records, instead of proprietary formats tied to one company’s software. The only standardized format now available to government buyers is OpenDocument Format, developed by a consortium led by I.B.M., which the I.S.O. approved in May 2006,” O’Brien reports.
“Of the 87 countries that participated, 26 percent opposed Microsoft’s bid. Under the rules for approval, no more than 25 percent of the countries could oppose the bid. Microsoft also failed to win the vote of 66 percent of 41 countries on another panel of I.S.O. and I.E.C. members,” O’Brien reports.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Mark” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Note: Apple’s new iWork ’08 supports Microsoft’s “Office Open XML” format.
Sorry Apple et al lost.
You fanboys do realize that Apple voted in FAVOR of Microsoft’s OOXML becoming an International Standard in this vote?
Bwahahahaha
Headline: “CHAIRS FLY IN REDMOND.” Monkeyboy goes bananas.
Remember this story. And remember the story about Microsoft trying old tactics to freeze the market by hinting at a Zune phone. Ten years ago, these tactics might have worked. Today, they don’t.
We may have hit an inflection point, a day when Microsoft reaches for the six-shooter in their holster, only to find no bullets in the barrel. Where nations once cowered and moved in lock-step to anything the Beastmaster ordered or said, it’s not the case any more. Ten years ago, had there been an iPhone back then, the mere hint by Microsoft that they would be rolling out an competing phone would have caused Apple stock to plummet. Instead, it didn’t wiggle. Ten years ago, if the gnomes of Redmond ordered a new standard such as OOXML, ISO representatives would have simply grabbed their ankles. Not anymore.
Today, people are beginning to question Microsoft. The rubber stamps have been put away. People are starting to push back. Where it was once assumed that Vista would be all dominant when it was first talked about as Longhorn, people came to understand what a clusterfuck it really is. People are taking their blinders off and giving the Mac OS a serious look. The shackles are coming off. And people are making their own decisions.
Often, we don’t see the big turning points until long after they have passed. But remember today. If not for what Steve Jobs is about to announce (and by all means, read FakeSteve’s blog today – it’s a gem), perhaps by itself, we should remember today as a day when people all over the world said one word to Microsoft: Enough.
To which I close with the poignant words of James Earl Jones, playing author Terrance Mann in the movie Field of Dreams – there’s an allegory to what is happening today with Apple and the vision of Steve Jobs:
“People will come, Ray.
They’ll come to lowa
for reasons they can’t even fathom.
They’ll turn up your driveway,
not knowing for sure why they’re doing it.
They’ll arrive at your door
as innocent as children…
…longing for the past.
“Of course, we won’t mind
if you look around,” you’ll say.
“It’s only $ per person.”
They’ll pass over the money
without even thinking about it.
For it is money they have
and peace they like.
Then they’ll walk off to the bleachers…
…and sit in their shirtsleeves
on a perfect afternoon.
They’ll find they have reserved seats
somewhere along one of the baselines…
…where they sat when they were children
and cheered their heroes…
…and they’ll watch the game…
…and it will be as if they dipped
themselves in magic waters.
The memories will be so thick…
…they’ll have to brush them away
from their faces.
The one constant through all the years,
Ray, has been baseball.
America has rolled by
like an army of steamrollers.
It’s been erased like a blackboard,
rebuilt, and erased again.
But baseball has marked the time.
This field, this game.
It’s a part of our past, Ray.
It reminds us of all that once was good…
…and it could be again.
People will come, Ray.
People will most definitely come.”
Corrupt countries more in favor of M$ OOXML format
http://www.effi.org/blog/kai-2007-09-05.en.html
— nonarKitten,
I thought TrueType was developed by Apple in the 1980’s?
so there is some justice in the world, not even M$ corrupting ways of trying to rig the vote with their business partners could get them the win
“I thought TrueType was developed by Apple in the 1980’s?”
Actually, it was a joint Apple / Microsoft venture to loosen Adobe’s hold on type.
If one more country had supported OOXML it would have passed one hurdle. Sweden passed the resolution which was then overturned when Microsoft was basically found cheating. Oops.