06.02.08
Venezuela Appeals ISO Decision on OOXML (Denmark Reportedly Also)
A lot has been happening recently in Denmark [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] where OOXML received a cold reception and abuse of the process was clear for all to see. According to one report, an appeal came from there, but we haven’t a confirmation. As for Venezuela, it’s confirmed to have filed an appeal. A list of incidents from there you can find here. The country is moving towards Free software.
Here is what seems like the earliest report about Venezuela’s appeal. The author too reluctant at this stage to include Denmark in the headline, but we will update this post accordingly when it clears up.
Venezuela has joined the list of countries that have lodged appeals against the adoption of an international standard based on Microsoft’s Office Open XML (OOXML) file format.
[...]
By Monday, though, the IEC had relaxed its interpretation of the directive: Venezuela’s appeal, although filed after May 29, “was filed within the two months of the BRM [ballot resolution meeting] closing so that it is being accepted. (The BRM closed on 29 March 2008 so the interpretation is that the last calendar day of May is being applied),” Buck wrote in an e-mail.
[...]
Computerworld Denmark reported Friday that Denmark filed an appeal with the ISO, although spokesmen at the IEC and ISO would not confirm that.
“I have no confirmation of the Danish report and cannot comment further on that,” the IEC’s Buck said Monday.
That makes 4 or 5 so far (maybe more are yet to emerge), including the world’s second- and third-largest populations. The only problem, however, is one that was mentioned yesterday. ISO and Microsoft have too much control as their own watchers. There ought to be outside intervention. █
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.
ZiggyFish said,
June 2, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Has EMCA released the final version of OOxML to ISO, yet?
Roy Schestowitz said,
June 2, 2008 at 8:59 pm
I don’t believe they have. Had they done it, one of the ODF/OOXML bloggers would said something.
Roy Bixler said,
June 3, 2008 at 10:18 am
Here’s a link to a blog which contains some details on the Denmark complaint:
Denmark Protests OOXML ISO Certification
http://www.bytefarmers.com/log/2008/06/02/denmark-protests-ooxml-iso-certification/
I understand also that Groklaw has posted an article on this. It’s looking more and more like Denmark really has made a formal appeal.
Roy Schestowitz said,
June 3, 2008 at 10:31 am
Thanks, Roy. That’s a good link. I was actually about to post an update about Denmark and Germany shortly (got some new info). DIN too seems dismissive at the moment.
Victor said,
June 3, 2008 at 11:38 am
I’m from Venezuela… mind that there’s a law that indicates that all government system must use OSS… but none of the government agencies and companies follow this law… not even on the servers for their sites (all of them are Windows based and indeed, most do not work in Firefox as they should), like:
http://www.cadivi.gov.ve/
and http://www.cantv.net/
so, while there is a law, nobody follows it in the government… originally, the standards body here approved OOXML (according to some, higher forces where at play… mostly money)… and it was needed to fight their position so it was changed
this appeal is a mayor victory not only in the fight between ODF and OOXML, but also in the fight against the power (mostly, the government) that doesn’t allow free software to develop properly here
Roy Schestowitz said,
June 3, 2008 at 11:52 am
I remember some article about this from September 2007. Misconduct was noted, but it was in Spanish, so I could not read it (I cited it instead).