ISO blows fanfare for OOXML

Mark Ballard the Inquirer, Saturday 16 August 2008. 18:30:00

Let the battle commence

WITH THE ELAN of an international standards organisation, the International Standards Organisation has declared Microsoft's OOXML document format will be an international standard. There are now two incompatible, international document standards on which the world can conduct its discourse, manage its business, and record its archives: Odf, which was produced by the people, for the people; and OOXML, which was produced by Microsoft, the convicted monopolist. Odf and OOXML are now squared up for a fight to the death. ISO has said there can ultimately be only one document standard, and "the market decides which survives". ISO rang the starting bell yesterday when it said that it had cleared OOXML after considering appeals against its decision to approve Microsoft's standard....