• Will Microsoft's OOXML be Voted as Standard?

    Will Microsoft's OOXML be Voted as Standard?

    Techtree News Staff, Apr 01, 2008 1716 hrs IST

    Apart from India, countries including Poland, New Zealand, Chile, Germany, USA, South Africa, and Canada have stayed firm with their disapproval of the OOXML file format as standard.

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Even as the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), India's representative body at the International Standards Organization (ISO), rejected for the second time Microsoft's Office Open XML (OOXML) file format earlier this month, that hasn't kept at bay all the speculation over the otherwise bright prospects of the format. Yet, we'll know for sure only tomorrow when the final vote count is declared.

Apart from India, countries including Poland, New Zealand, Chile, Germany, USA, South Africa, and Canada have stayed firm with their disapproval of the OOXML file format as standard. Although, recent developments do indicate a shift in favor with Venezuela doing a turnaround from 'yes' to 'no', France shifting from 'yes' to 'abstain', and the likes of Korea, Denmark, Ireland, United Kingdom, and the Czech Republic actually drifting from 'no' to 'yes' with respect to the file format. Meanwhile, Norway has filed a protest with ISO regarding its own vote -- until further investigation. Nonetheless, the 'yes' votes from countries that are in favor of the OOXML file format as standard seem to clearly surpass the 'against' votes from the naysayers and the 'abstain' votes from those who choose to sit on the fence.

All said, as of now, the software giant looks like it will gain some more weight to throw around in the market. And if indeed, the format is voted as standard, Microsoft will no longer remain obligated to shift to rival format 'ODF'. The victory might also attract developers wanting to build products based on the norm of standard file format.

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