Four Nations Fight Microsoft Document-Format Standard

BERLIN (Reuters) – Four developing countries have appealed against the adoption of Microsoft’s (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research)Office Open XML document format as an international standard, theInternational Organisation for Standardisation said on Monday.

ISO said in a statement the national standards bodies of Brazil,India, South Africa and Venezuela had appealed against the positiveoutcome of a vote it held in March after a controversial fast-trackratification process.

It gave no details of the substance of the appeals. At the time ofthe vote, several parties complained that the discussion and subsequentvoting process was muddled and rushed.

Gaining the final ISO stamp of approval would help Microsoft winmore public-sector contracts, as some government bodies are nervousabout storing archives in a proprietary format.

The adoption of OOXML as an ISO standard will remain on hold untilthe appeals are resolved, which could take several months, ISO said.

Critics say OOXML is not fully translatable into other documentformats, notably the open-source Open Document Format that is alreadyrecognized as an international standard.

ISO’s secretary-general and the general secretary of theInternational Electrotechnical Commission are considering the appealsand will submit them to their respective management boards forconsideration by the end of the month.

The boards will then decide whether to proceed with the appeals process.

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by Gary Hill)