Nonostante in molti remino contro OOXML, è da domenica che si susseguono voci che Office Open XML riesca ad ottenere un numero sufficiente di voti per essere certificato ISO, comunicazioni ufficiali sono attese per quest’oggi. Se non vi è ancora traccia di alcuna dichiarazione ufficiale (press release), è sufficiente dare uno sguardo su Internet per rendersi conto di come dovrebbero andare le opinioni di voto e dell’aria che tira, in molti stanno già gridando all’ irregolarità per la Polonia e la Norvegia (polishlinux) e sembrerebbe che la politica ci abbia messo “lo zampino” ..

Finchè non giungerà comunicazione dall’ISO possiamo già visitare più di qualche sito per tenerci informati:

• www.consortiuminfo.org : L’avvocato Andrew Updegrove esperto anche di Standard che rivaleggia per il formato OpenDocument (vedi OpenOffice) è convinto dopo aver sentito i comunicati e le relazioni dei partecipanti che OOXML diverrà ISO.
• www.openmalaysiablog.com : Sito Web gestito da studenti e avvocati, sono arrivati alla conclusione che il ballottaggio abbia ampie chances di far passare OOXML come ISO.
• www.polishlinux.org : L’articolo parla di possibili irregolarità di voto ed un eventuale causa.

Qualora OOXML venga confermato ISO, ciò si trasformerà in una vittoria per Microsoft, l’ISO renderà i prodotti che utilizzano il standard Office Open XML più attrattivo per le pubbliche amministrazioni dando maggiori garanzie per la durata dei dati, è ovvio poi che ciò si trasformerà in un maggior numero di licenze di Office. Se OOXML diverrà Standard, l’atto comporterà anche un minor interessamento al formato Open Document che è nato prima di OOXML per evitare di essere vincolati ad un singolo produttore software, lasciandoli liberi di cambiare software se il produttore del loro attuale software dovesse uscire dal mercato, alzare i prezzi, cambiare il software o cambiare i propri termini di licenza per qualcosa di meno favorevole.

Se OOXML diverrà ISO, ciò averrà comunque sotto lo spettro delle irregolarità, il sito Groklaw riporta di uno scandalo in Norvegia allegando l’articolo tradotto di ComputerWorld.dk

The proponents of open standards are shocked over the incompetence and procedural errors made in Standards Norway and accuse the organization of not taking into account national interest.

While Shahzad Rand and Microsoft worry themselves about whether OOXML is recommended by Standards Norway, resistors are up in arms over Friday’s decision. CTO Håkon Wium Lie at Opera Software, who has worked for a number of years with the Internet and standards is deeply disturbed. “This is a scandal! I am shocked. I am speechless. 21 members of the committee say no, while MS manages to win through its position anyway. It is incomprehensible,” says Wium Lie angrily.

The meeting on Friday began first with a general committee in Standards Norway, which thereafter was reduced to key individuals in the organization plus five representatives who were in attendance at the ISO meeting in Geneva. At the end, even these were dismissed, and three individuals from Standards Norway made the decision.

Not qualified

“Those who made the decision at the end are not those who know the most about this. They are not qualified to make this type of decision and do not necessarily have national interests at heart. They do not represent the Norwegian committee,” says Wium Lie. Ha has received support from the committee head, Steve Pepper , who also declares the decision incomprehensible.

“I am deeply shocked that Standards Norway has chosen to ignore the large majority in the committee. It is the bureaucrats in the committee who have said yes, not Norway. It is a win for MS and a great loss for the rest of the world,” says Pepper. According to Pepper, there were only two in favor of OOXML as an ISO standard: Microsoft and its partner Statoilhydro.

The process warrants investigation

“So if the majority in the committee were against OOXMl, why do you think that Standards Norway said yes. They have been targeted of enormous pressure from one market interest which has use of great resources, and they have most likely been more preoccupied by their own interests as a standards organization than by the end users interests,” says Pepper.

He emphasizes that it is an advantage for one organization to have responsibility for a large and important standard as OOXML with its 8000 pages of specifications.

“Someone should go in and review Standards Norway and the process when they can go and reach such hair-raising conclusions.” He also dismisses Shahzad Rana’s arguments that the disagreement in the committee was based on syntactical elements in the specification.

“It was not syntactical at all, that which was brought up was the core of the problem. The Norwegian comments on functionality were not addressed,” says Wium Lie who claims that the document format is something only MS has the possibility to implement, because it is so large.

Tough decision Bjørnhild Sæterøy is leader of the OOXML project in Standards Norway, She opines that the process went as it should. “It was a very difficult decision because there was strong resistance against OOXML and we did not attain consensus on whether our comments were addressed or not,” says Sæterøy. She implies that it is important for ISO and Standards Norway to have a grip on something so big and important a format as OOXML. “We made this decision because we wish to be within the further development of the standard. It gives us an opportunity to influence what happens. We await responses.”

Wium Lie and Pepper opine that those in Standards Norway have ignored the majority’s intentions. “They are welcome to their opinions. Beyond that I have no comments,” says Sæterøy.

Lost respect

Pepper has been a volunteer in standards work for 13 years, but after Friday’s decision and the way in which the decision was made he has lost respect for Standards Norway, and it cannot be ruled out that he retires from standards work.

“I am motivated by a moral position for open standards and if it is now market forces which take over ISO work, then that is something completely different. I must sleep on it,” says an exhausted Steve Pepper

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