OOXML appears to have failed to pass the September 2 vote

September 4 2007

This morning, it appears that the ISO vote on Microsoft's Open XML has failed to pass as-is.  It's hard to separate spin from reality, though, so I may have to update this blog posting later.  Here's what I can find:

New York Times Microsoft favored to win open document vote
ConsortiumInfo.org Standards Blog: Forecast: ISO Will Announce on Tuesday that OOXML Approval has Failed

Those were both written before today, though.  So what's out today?

Microsoft has issued a press release, Strong Global Support for Open XML as It Enters Final Phase of ISO Standards Process.  NONE of the regular blogs -- on either side -- have comments on this press release yet.  So by my reading, does it surprise anyone that
- The first source of news on a supposed standardization process comes from a vendor who kept insisting throughout the process that this was an ecma effort, that it was about standards rather than a single vendor, etc.?
- Microsoft has spun a failure to win the vote as "strong support"?  There's absolutely no acknowledgement in the release that this vote means that the effort did not pass.
- They claim that more countries voted on this effort than did for Open Document Format, evidence of "an unprecedented level of participation ".  Gee how did that happen?

None of the MS bloggers have anything on this at this particular moment, nor groklaw nor other similar sites.  The only one that seems to have comments on it is the NO-OOXML site, which was posted a few hours ago and the release is only linked in comments.

Update 1, 8 AM: IDG publications are now reporting "ISO votes to reject Microsoft's OOXML as standard".

OOXML failed on both counts, according to figures provided by Microsoft, and by other sources with knowledge of the voting process. ISO has not yet officially announced the results.
Update 2, 11 AM:

Well, Microsoft has managed to get some spinning the wrong way on this.  IT Pro and other publications have this story, "Microsoft Nears OOXML Approval":
Office Open XML (OOXML) has been given the preliminary thumbs up by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), thanks to a large number of the international standards body's members voting to support ratification of Microsoft's file format.
Huh?

Computerworld sees through the smokescreen, reporting "Microsoft gaming ISO system in Open XML vote bid, say critics":
Opponents of Open XML claim that the sudden rise is no coincidence and is linked to aggressive local politicking by Microsoft that takes advantage of loopholes in the rules.

"I have to say that this is the most egregious, and far-reaching, example of playing the system to the advantage of a single company that I have ever seen. Breathtaking, in fact," wrote Andy Updegrove, a Boston lawyer and open standards activist, in a blog post late last week.
From the tone of today's press release, it's clear MS is going to continue to use whatever end-justifies-the-means tactics necessary approaching the February BRM (ballot resolution meeting) and beyond.  That is, if the market lets them.

Ed Brill Highland Park, IL USA Category:  In the news  Add/View Comments [17]

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  1. 1  Nathan T. Freeman http://nathan.lotus911.com | 9/4/2007 8:10:20 AM

    From { Link }

    Here are a few figures more relevant than those of the MS press release :

    - 32 valid votes by JTC1 P-Members : 2/3 is 21.33, and there are only 17 YES votes —> FAILED

    - 69 valid votes by ISO Member Bodies. 25% is 17.25, and there are 18 NO votes —> FAILED

    Amongst the 30 "original" JTC1 P-Members : 8 Yes, 14 No, 8 Abstain

    Amongst the 11 "late-comers" JTC1 P-Members : 9 Yes, 1 No (Ecuador), 1 Abstain (Trinidad & Tobago)

    Amongst the 15 "late-comers" SC34 P-Members : 12 Yes, 0 No, 3 Abstain (Chile, Finland, Trinidad & Tobago)

  1. 2  Julian Woodward http://blog.woowar.com | 9/4/2007 8:49:41 AM

    Well, well, well ... it seems that James Surowiecki may have been right all along.

    { Link }

  1. 3  Charles Robinson http://cubert-codepoet.blogspot.com | 9/4/2007 8:58:08 AM

    Trinidad and Tobago?! I don't mean to cast aspersions, but come on...

  1. 4  Axel  | 9/4/2007 9:22:45 AM

    Here is a country list->

    { Link }

    comment 4 Sep 2007, 13:34 +0200

    Most Eastern European countries (except Slovenia) voted approval (with comments or not).

    Most Latin American countries voted against approval (exceptions: Cuba, Panama, Venezuela and Costa Rica).

    Most Middle Eastern countries voted "approval" (exception: Iran).

    All at least partly german speaking countries (Switzerland included) voted approval with comments.

    Most (or all) other western european countries voted against or abstained.

    Most African countries approved (exception: South Africa)

    Asian countries are very divided on the issue.

  1. 5  Christopher Byrne http://www.controlscaddy.com/ | 9/4/2007 9:39:36 AM

    Aren't you supposed to be on your honeymoon? :-)

  1. 6  Alan Bell http://www.dominux.co.uk | 9/4/2007 9:42:16 AM

    Microsoft are counting the O and P votes together to get their total of 51 out of 69. 51 is the number of approvals plus approval with comments plus abstentions. They have counted the abstentions as votes for OOXML.

  1. 7  Sean Jennings  | 9/4/2007 10:15:11 AM

    I wouldn't say that Microsoft were spinning like crazy when they wrote that press-release, but by the time I finished reading it I was completely dizzy!... it seems "Office Open XML" will usher in a new era, banishing famine, disease, war, global-warming, etc....!

    Lets hope next-year's vote works-out the same way too.

  1. 8  Vitor Pereira http://www.vitor-pereira.com | 9/4/2007 10:43:33 AM

    @7 Sean, lets not just hope. Lets do something about it. Lets not keep quiet about this.

  1. 9  One Lotus Developer http://onelotusdeveloper.blogspot.com | 9/4/2007 12:00:10 PM

    I believe it is now final:

    "OOXML has failed to pass the September 2 vote"

    { Link }

  1. 10  Andres   | 9/4/2007 5:41:25 PM

    @5.... I guess that this is one of the best gifts that Ed had on his weeding... :-) and he could not resist to blog it !!

  1. 11  Mike Brown  | 9/4/2007 9:59:43 PM

    I think maybe we should call Microsoft's press effort "the Rambo release".

    To whit, anybody whose knowledge of the Vietnam war is derived entirely from the movie Rambo: First Blood Part II would probably not know that the United States didn't win it.

    Cheers,

    - Mike

  1. 12  Pedro Quaresma  | 9/5/2007 3:26:24 AM

    I'm kinda confused about the statement on the National Standards Authority of Ireland website:

    { Link }

    So the title is :

    "NSAI PROVIDES QUALIFIED APPROVAL FOR MAJOR SOFTWARE STANDARD"

    And then the text says:

    "After months of intensive review, analysis and discussion, NSAI has voted Disapproval - with Technical Comments, in respect of the OOXML submission. This effectively is a qualified yes[...]"

    So a 'no' is a 'qualified approval'?! Kinda reminds me of this post on Bob Sutor's blog:

    { Link }

  1. 13  Mike Brown  | 9/5/2007 6:46:09 AM

    Just to let you know that Microsoft's spin machine can be stopped, in some places at least. You don't have to sit by and let them get away with it.

    For exampple, PC Pro issued the most biased report on the result that I've seen yet. Simon Aughton not only repeated all of Microsoft's spin at face value, but added some new spin all of his own. That article, entitled "Microsoft takes big step towards OOXML approval" was at:

    www.pcpro.co.uk/news/123978/microsoft-takes-big-step-towards-ooxml-approval.html

    but don't bother clicking on the link because it's been yanked. A number of people used the article's comments section to complain about the blatant bias, and basic inaccuracies. And now we have new article at PC Pro, "Microsoft OOXML proposal falls short":

    { Link }

    This far more sober reflection of events concludes "PC Pro would like to apologise for any confusion caused by its report of the vote yesterday."

    Cheers,

    - Mike

  1. 14  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 9/5/2007 7:33:33 AM

    @12 yes, actually, a "no" vote can be a qualified approval... it means, as I understand it, "if you address our comments, then we would change our vote to 'yes'". Now, in some cases, those comments are significant and might not be addressable, or easily so....

    @13 I'm glad they retracted the earlier article (which I had linked to on IT Pro UK). It was very shoddy. The new article, though, clearly still has spin a-la-Stephen McGibbon. His blog entry on all of this has a lot of people dizzy, as you can learn reading Ben Langhinrichs' "favorite spin of the day": { Link }

  1. 15  Pedro Quaresma  | 9/5/2007 8:14:04 AM

    @14 Thanks for clearing out my doubts on the "qualified approval". I do understand that the vote can be changed to "yes" if the comments are all addressed, I just found it confusing/peculiar that a vote for a "no" could be titled as an "approval". In the very least it sounds as a bit of spin as well...

  1. 16  Mike Brown  | 9/5/2007 5:40:24 PM

    Great comment on theRegister!

    "I u5e OoXml.1111111e9 a1l t-he t i m e likewin95(). W0tz the proB7em* ?likeWord97 ????????????"

    { Link }

    Cheers,

    = Mike

  1. 17  ronan  | 4/1/2008 5:18:25 AM

    NSAI Votes to Approve Office Open XML Standard

    Dublin, Monday, March 31st, 2008. NSAI (National Standards Authority of Ireland) has voted to approve OOXML (Office Open XML) software specification as an international standard. Developed largely by Microsoft, OOXML (Office Open XML) is an extension of the Extensible Mark-up Language, a general purpose language, allowing users to define their own tags, its primary purpose being to facilitate the sharing of data across different information systems, particularly via the Internet.

    NSAI, as Ireland’s official standards and measurement body and as a full member of ISO (the International Organisation for Standardisation), is entitled to participate and vote on any technical committee and policy committee of ISO. The OOXML submission is a joint process between ISO and its sister body, IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission). A key characteristic of international standardisation is that each National standards body, of which there are more than 100 worldwide, has one vote in the approval process, irrespective of the size of country. Ireland’s vote of ‘Approval’ comes after a lengthy period of intensive review, analysis and discussion in respect of the OOXML submission.

    In August 2007, NSAI initially voted a qualified Approval, subject to the resolution of a number of technical issues highlighted by NSAI’s ICT Standards Consultative Committee. These issues, or ‘comments’, have been since been resolved and NSAI modified the vote to Approve.

    Maurice Buckley, Chief Executive, NSAI, said, “Standards play a key role in developing trade and enterprise in Ireland and NSAI and the ICT Committee demonstrated expertise, dedication and impartiality in this matter.”

    The progress of this OOXML proposal through the international standards process has been accompanied by unprecedented media attention, extending far outside the technical community into the blogosphere, international business media and national media around the world.

    -ends-