ISO approval 'unlikely for Microsoft Open XML' | CNET News.com
Experts are predicting that waying the ISO is not quite the easy matter of influencing journalists, lobbyists, and ECMA.
Microsoft submitted the file format they use in their proprietary products as an
The UE is currently levying sanctions against Microsoft for not adequately documenting their computer-to-computer standards.
The ISO has also been weighing Open Document Format (ODF) as a standard office document.
While all Microsoft's Office applications are closed source and not open for study and correction, Open Office applications can be corrected and debugged by users. These capabilities allow them to make sure that the software works the way they think it does, and if not - change it to work the way they want it to. That is the meaning of open source.
By contrast open systems are those that follow standardized, non-proprietary specifications for interoperating. Open standards do not give any one company control of the standards - which is the point of having open standards in the first place.
Otherwise, people would just buy all products from that one company, and they would have no incentive to innovate, provide customer service, or fix long-standing flaws.
CNET News.com:
It will be interesting to here what the functional differences are between the two standards.
It will also be interesting to see if the change to XML has opened the door to possible improvements in document format conversion filters. It is unlikely that they will, as the same problems that exist now have existed for over a decade and a half.
However, perhaps new approaches or at least new goals in conversion, generation, and repurposing of document content will arise from such examination.
Microsoft submitted the file format they use in their proprietary products as an
openstandard. The world standards body will evaluate its suitability as a standard.
The UE is currently levying sanctions against Microsoft for not adequately documenting their computer-to-computer standards.
The ISO has also been weighing Open Document Format (ODF) as a standard office document.
While all Microsoft's Office applications are closed source and not open for study and correction, Open Office applications can be corrected and debugged by users. These capabilities allow them to make sure that the software works the way they think it does, and if not - change it to work the way they want it to. That is the meaning of open source.
By contrast open systems are those that follow standardized, non-proprietary specifications for interoperating. Open standards do not give any one company control of the standards - which is the point of having open standards in the first place.
Otherwise, people would just buy all products from that one company, and they would have no incentive to innovate, provide customer service, or fix long-standing flaws.
CNET News.com:
There is a 70 percent probability that the standards organization will not approve multiple XML document formats, according to a research note published by Gartner last week. It also predicted, with the same probability, that "by 2010, ODF (OpenDocument Format) document exchange will be required by 50 percent of government and 20 percent of commercial organizations."
It will be interesting to here what the functional differences are between the two standards.
It will also be interesting to see if the change to XML has opened the door to possible improvements in document format conversion filters. It is unlikely that they will, as the same problems that exist now have existed for over a decade and a half.
However, perhaps new approaches or at least new goals in conversion, generation, and repurposing of document content will arise from such examination.
posted by John Collins | 6:51 PM
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