Hey, ISO, April Fools was *yesterday*

Words fail me when ISO approves OOXML

Hereafter, I shall refuse to refer to you as a standards body. Accepting an ill-thought-out set of documentation for Microsoft quirky and proprietary technology in a process that has been widely regarded as suspicious with allegations of corruption, co-opting and buying of votes is a cruel and horrible joke. Thank you so much for nothing.

Here’s an interesting factoid for you (via):

Norway ended up “supporting” OOXML, while 80% of the members of The SN/K 185 subcomittee of Standards Norway were opposed to the proposal.

There has been allegations of “comittee-stuffing” to get a particular view through, so it’s rather interesting to see what the original members of the comittee has to say on the matter (those who were members of SN/K 185 prior to the OOXML process started). For reference, these members were:

  • Lars Marius Garshol
  • Erlend Øverby
  • Thomas Flemming
  • Keld Simonsen
  • Steve Pepper (chairman of SN/K 185)

And, they have all signed an open letter to Standards Norway (the letter is in Norwegian — I’ll try to find an English translation) , opposing OOXML as an ISO standard.

Again, ISO, thanks for exactly nothing.

Comments

Comment from Martin Bekkelund on 2008-04-03 13:17

This is truly a sad chapter in the history of standardization. My trust as a member of SN K/185 with both ISO and Standards Norway is completely gone. Steve Pepper has resigned from his position in SN K/185. This is extremely sad. I can’t find the words.

Thanks for writing on this topic, Arve!

Comment from Chloe on 2008-04-05 19:35

Its like web politics !
I’ve read alot about this latly but haven’t actually studied OOXML so can’t comment on it apart from what i’ve read.
80% against it though and yet supporting it, surely somthing must be done about this.

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