As the deadline approaches for the ISO vote on acceptance/rejection of Open Office XML as a standard, the blogosphere is ablaze with indignation at the process, the spec and Microsoft’s role.
— Are ISO committee members being given false info about the impending OOXML vote? Blogger Rob Weir says that some have erroneously been told the Sept. 2 vote has been postponed.
— Will Norway abstain? And how did they come to that decision when they have been fielding large numbers of negative comments from people who reviewed the spec, asks Pamela Jones in her blog.
— IBM’s Ed Brill says cynically that he isn’t surprised by all the hardball tactics.
— Microsoft’s Brian Jones emphatically points out that the US is promising to vote in favor of OOXML – like Germany has – and then promises to systematically collect criticisms of the spec and work with ECMA TC to address them.
— Is the US trying to force Microsoft to meet its promise and modify OOXML so that it interoperates with earlier Office formats? Geir Isene blogs that this could be motivating the US to vote yes to the spec.
Lots more commentary in this great summary from Computerworld’s IT BlogWatch.
