Microsoft Loses XML Vote
Microsoft continues to push its Open XML standard, the default file format of Office 2007, as an alternative to the Open Document Format. This week, it met a setback in a vote by the INCITS.
The executive committee of the International Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) fell one vote shy of the nine required to approve Microsoft's Open XML standard. It voted 8 to 7 in favor of approval with one abstention, the group announced last week.
ODF was approved as an ISO (International Organization for Standardization) standard last year, a sign that it could gain traction with organizations that give preference to standards-based technology.
But recently, Microsoft has been pushing to get Open XML blessed by the ISO.
ODF was approved as an ISO (International Organization for Standardization) standard last year, a sign that it could gain traction with organizations that give preference to standards-based technology.
But recently, Microsoft has been pushing to get Open XML blessed by the ISO.
In the question of approval by the ISO,
standards groups such as INCITS, which is examining the question in the
U.S., have been debating whether or not to back Microsoft's attempts to get ISO standardization. Honestly though, anyone I've met using Office 2007 - and that's not a large number as most I know continue to use Office 2003 - use the formats compatible with Office 2003, for just that reason: small levels of adoption of Office 2007.
