"As those who are following Microsoft's OOXML formats through the standardization process will know, those formats (now officially known as Ecma 376, following the favorable adoption vote in Ecma on December 7 of last year) are now in the 'contradiction' phase in JTC 1 at ISO/IEC. Or, so it would seem, they are in the 'so, what is a contradiction, anyway?' phase.
"Microsoft has won the first point in this match (on which more below), as national bodies around the world wrestle with this question. But first, some context on what's going on, and why it matters..."
