As you will recall, Microsoft's OOXML submission to ISO/IEC via Ecma did
not garner enough votes to obtain approval in the first round of voting,
which closed on September 2. As you may also recall, in the run up to
that vote there were many sudden increases in membership not only in
national standards bodies, but in SC 34, the ISO/IEC JTC1 committee where
the national votes were cast. As part of the same trend, eleven countries
upgraded their membership from Observer to Participating status in SC 34,
in order to secure the greater influence over the final vote that could be
gained as "P" members. The great majority of those upgrading companies
voted to approve OOXML, but this influx was still insufficient to carry
the day. Many felt that these events damaged the integrity of the standards
process. It now appears that the damage is extending beyond reputation,
and is affecting the ability of the standards process to function at all.
Due to the fact that these newly minted "P" members have not participated
in any of the voting required by SC 34 members other than the OOXML vote,
the work of this very important committee, in the words of its chair, has
"ground to a halt." In fact, not a single vote has achieved sufficient
participation to pass - other than the OOXML vote - since the new members
arrived. More Information See also the SC 34 Secretariat Manager's Report: Click Here
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