ConsortiumInfo: The Contradictory State of OOXML

“Regular readers will be aware that OOXML, the Microsoft Office
XML-based formats adopted by Ecma, are now in the adoption queue at
ISO/IEC. Ecma is a ‘Class A Liaison’ partner with ISO/IEC, which
permits it to use the same Fast Track process that national
standards bodies use. That process takes six months–the same
amount of time that the PAS process takes (the route used by OASIS
to submit ODF to ISO/IEC)–but has two steps rather than one,
although the practical result is much the same.

“During the first one-month step, any member may submit
‘contradictions,’ which, loosely defined, are aspects in which a
proposed standard conflicts with already adopted ISO/IEC standards
and Directives…”

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