The buildup to Microsoft’s second-round push for ISO standardization of its XML document format makes it clear the battle is still on.

During the past two weeks, Microsoft has formally responded to the 3,522 comments submitted in September by ISO members voting on Ecma-376 Office Open XML (OOXML); a survey was released by the Burton Group tagging OOXML over OpenDocument Format (ODF) as the dominant format for the future; and proponents on both sides have been freely spilling their opinions. For example, Andy Updegrove, a lawyer, Linux Foundation board member and citizen crusader against OOXML, issued a 16,000-word expose on the battle between OOXML and ODF.

In addition, Microsoft last week held a press conference for select media members to air its optimism on the fight over standardized formats, and the ODF Alliance issued an e-mail clarifying the ISO’s Ballot Resolution Meeting (BRM) slated for Feb. 25-29.

OOXML, called DIS 29500 at ISO, went down to preliminary defeat during a Sept. 2 vote among ISO members. In the second phase of the process -- the February BRM -- Microsoft and ECMA have the opportunity to respond to specific questions from the ISO’s voting members regarding the 6,000-page OOXML specification.

National standards bodies from the voting countries may reconsider their votes following the BRM.

ECMA already has standardized OOXML and was the organization that recommended the format for ISO fast-track standardization. The ISO has approved ODF as a standard, giving it credibility among organizations that prefer standards-based technology, and Microsoft is gunning to land the same designation for its specification.

Brian Jones, a program manager on the Microsoft Office team, wrote in his blog that Microsoft was already addressing some concerns ISO members submitted during the September voting.

While the voters concerns are not yet public, Jones said Microsoft will make it easier to get documentation on the Office binary formats for applications including Word (.doc), Excel (.xls) and PowerPoint (.ppt). He said obtaining that documentation had been a concern by some voting ISO members.

Jones also said Microsoft would create a new open source project to create another translator for binary-to-XML format translation in addition to those from other vendors.