Certification marks a year of work for a technical committee set up to standardise Office Open XML
A vote to make Microsoft Office document formats an international standard was approved last Thursday, according to a Microsoft representative.
At the general assembly of ECMA International in Zurich, Switzerland, Microsoft's Office Open XML -- a set of specifications detailing the document formats in Microsoft's office -- was certified as a standard.
In addition, the membership-based standards organisation voted to propose Office Open XML to the larger International Organisation for Standardisation (known as ISO) for standards approval through its fast-track process, a Microsoft representative confirmed.
The vote to accept Microsoft's submission as a standard was expected. The ISO standardisation process typically takes about nine months, according to experts.
IBM, which has been a vocal advocate of another standard called open document, or ODF, voted against making Open XML a standard. ODF was passed earlier this month as an ISO standard.
The certification from ECMA -- formerly known as the European Computer Manufacturers Association -- marks about a year of work for a technical committee set up to standardise Office Open XML.
These document formats are the default for Office 2007, an upgrade to Microsoft's productivity suite that was released to businesses late last month and expected to be available to consumers next January.
Novell, which participated in the ECMA technical committee, intends to support Office Open XML in its distribution of the OpenOffice open source productivity suite. Corel, which makes the WordPerfect Office suite, intends to support both Office Open XML and OpenDocument.
When will the corruption at the hands of M$ ever stop?
Corrupt public officials getting bought in plain daylight by M$!!
I cannot believe it.