Alex Brown: OOXML Revealed “JTC1 Procedures Were Rubbish” — Sure Enough, Problems Surface

“The OOXML approval was marred by procedures that were rubbish,
eh? How about the result, then? Wasn’t that exactly what the four
appeals against adoption of OOXML stated as one basis, that the
process was essentially rubbish? Were they right? One year later,
it seems there are indeed some problems. Brown tells us on his blog
that at the BRM “a number of existing Ecma-376 documents were
unintentionally made invalid against the IS29500 transitional
schema”.

“Oops.

“The UK, he writes, now is suggesting a retroactive fix to undo
the changes made at the BRM. Say, what? Rubbish though they be, is
there any JTC1 procedure that makes *that* an appropriate way
forward? If so, why bother to even meet? Just let Microsoft or its
little elves slip in anything they want and call it good.

“That’s not all. According to Jomar Silva of Brazil, who
attended the BRM and just received the secret report on progress on
OOXML, several items that were supposed to be fixed are still not
incorporated into the published text of the standard one year
later, despite the fact that he says some voted a conditional Yes,
contingent on those changes being made.”

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