Microsoft Attempts to Fast-track OpenXML Standard
Microsoft Attempts to Fast-track OpenXML Standard
April 10, 2007: Microsoft is under fire yet again for its Open XML, with some critics accusing it of trying to fake grassroot support for the format in a bid to speed up ISO certification.
The criticism comes in response to the software giant posting an online petition on its UK website to drum up support its beleaguered format. The petition asks businesses to sign up and show support for the format becoming an ISO standard.
“In the open-source world, there’s clearly a massive grassroots thing. One of the lessons Microsoft has been trying to learn from open source is that - but they have to fake it. If there was any grassroots support behind it, the time to have done [the petition] would have been ages ago,” said the found of the Open Source Consortium, Mark Taylor, to ZDNet UK.
“We already have an international standard, the OpenDocument format, and governments are increasingly adopting it. Having a second standard is utterly unnecessary.”
The move comes just over a month after Microsoft posted an open letter on its website attacking IBM (backer of OpenDocument Format) for trying to stymie OpenXML’s certification. However, with OpenXML’s specifications hitting 6,000 pages, perhaps Microsoft should be looking at its own cumbersome proposal as the reason for any delay.
Rufus Pollock, the director of the Foundation for Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) told ZDnet that fast tracking standardisation would be inappropriate as the sheer size of the specifications raised "a lot of concerns about what might be in there."
"An over-complex proposal being pushed through is not going to be good for anyone, other than perhaps Microsoft," he said.
Open XML is currently undergoing a five-month ballot for standard ratification, which is due to end on the 2nd of September this year.
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